


Ms. Brightside

by Misscar



Series: You Don't Have to [4]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Uhura, Blow Jobs, Crush, Daddy Issues, F/M, Friendship, Implied Sexual Content, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, Infidelity, Inspired by Music, Kobayashi Maru, M/M, Mockery of justice, Sexual Humor, Spock punches someone out, Starfleet Academy, The chaos before the storm, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-26 13:43:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/651108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misscar/pseuds/Misscar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Continuation of Unmistakably T’hy’la.  The chaos before the storm as told by Nyota Uhura.  On the bright side, Jim and Spock are completely in love with each other in this story.  That may be the only positive thing going on and that depend on your perspective.</p>
<p>Pairings: K/S with unrequited one sided S/U</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Miseducation of Nyota Uhura

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally published in September 2010.  
> This is a slightly revised version. I’m half tempted to change the title again but I wanted to stay consistent with what is in other archives.  
> Disclaimer I do not own anything.
> 
> This story is inspired by the songs:
> 
> Precious illusions by Alanis Morissette  
> These precious illusions in my head did not let me down  
> When I was defenseless  
> And parting with them is like parting with invisible best friends
> 
> That Thing by Lauryn Hill  
> Girlfriend, let me break it down for you again  
> You know I only say it 'cause I'm truly genuine  
> Don't be a hardrock when you're really a gem  
> Babygirl, respect is just a minimum
> 
> Mr. Brightside by the killers.
> 
> And I just can't look its killing me  
> And taking control  
> Jealousy, turning saints into the sea  
> Swimming through sick lullabies  
> Choking on your alibis  
> But it's just the price I pay  
> Destiny is calling me  
> Open up my eager eyes  
> 'Cause I'm Mr Brightside
> 
> Special thank you to my beta Teddy Bear.
> 
> I take full responsibility for any remaining mistakes or at the very least, I will blame it on the voice recognition software that I must utilize to write the stories. Unfortunately, neither I nor the software can tell the difference between ideal and idea.
> 
> The chapter title was inspired by the album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

When she was a little girl, Nyota believed in love, happily ever after, and prince charming. Even in the 23rd century, little girls watch fairy tales about princesses that are swept off their feet by the dashing young gentleman with his own castle and trusty steed. Of course, in her version Cinderella was really a med student named Paige with a good family who married the Prince of Denmark after he became king. Then there was that other fairy tale about a girl named Mia who was born into royalty all along without knowing it and didn't necessarily needed a prince but found one anyway. She loved those stories as a child and always dreamt of being a princess herself.  
In hindsight, she blamed these types of overly sweet delusional stories about love and relationships for completely skewing her expectations when it came to the opposite sex. When it came to love, her miseducation began quite early and truly screwed her over later in life.

 

XXXX 

She first realized that little girl fairy tale fantasies do not exist in the real world just before she became a teenager. She was 12 when her parents just one day decided that they did not love each other anymore and were getting a divorce. That wasn't quite right. It was more like her dad fell in love with someone else or maybe he just fell out of love with her mom. Okay, that's being too nice. Her dad was fucking someone else and made the new model Nyota’s stepmom less than six months after the divorce was finalized. 

Actually, for most of her parents’ marriage her dad was sleeping with someone else behind her mom’s back. Her mom loved Nyota’s dad so much that she didn’t believe the accusations until she walked in on him and the new model having sex in the family room. Nyota did not hear about this until she was 17 and crying over her own broken heart. 

When she was younger, her mom tried to hide how upset she was but it was hard to conceal something when you just kept crying all the time. It hurt her to see her mom so devastated. She never wanted that to happen to her. 

XXXXXX

Her faith in the male species was once again shattered when she was 17. She was a stupid teenager who fell for the lines of a player named Andy. He was an exchange student from the area formally known as the United States. 

On the surface, he seemed so sweet and innocent with that charming smile and a great sense of style. He used the shy and innocent act to get into the panties of any girl he wanted. At the time, Nyota didn’t know this and she easily became his target. She fell for his stupid pickup lines so easily. She actually believed he loved her. Nyota felt like a fool after he became her first sexual partner ever and never called her again. 

Too bad her childhood romantic education did not include old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Maybe then, she would have been prepared for the 23rd century equivalence of Angelus and Parker.

XXXXX

She had some good relationships and bad relationships, before she fell for another guy with smooth lines and a brilliant smile that shattered her heart. Yet again, at the academy, she allowed herself to be fooled by another guy who said all the right things. She is shocked at her ability to fall for his ridiculous pickup lines. He found a way into her bed and heart with promises of love and happily ever after. This time, he didn’t disappear the next day. For eleven months, she and Jordan had the perfect romance complete with handholding and kissing on the quad. 

 

Her fairy tale ended abruptly when she walked in on him getting a BJ from some random girl in the ladies restroom at her favorite club. After she broke his nose, she broke down in tears as soon as she was in the privacy of her own dorm room.

 

 

She felt so ashamed for falling for the fairy tale illusion again. She should have known better. She cannot believe she fell for whatever lie he was feeding her. Her heart felt sick.

She was hurt again, but she wasn’t going to let anybody know she felt so broken inside. Nyota promised herself that she would be wiser after that humiliating incident three years ago. That moment she vowed to never be played for a fool again. 

XXX

Three weeks after the Jordan incident, her friends decided to comfort her by going bar hopping in the middle of nowhere, where she wouldn’t run into a certain asshole ex-boyfriend. She needed to be at a club that didn’t remind her of what she saw that night. Getting wasted in the middle of nowhere, to forget about assholes that fucked her over seemed like a good idea at the time.

Coming to Iowa was a mistake. 

Nyota ran into the same type of guy that broke her heart one too many times. Nothing like a fake personality, with phony pickup lines, and an absolutely wonderful body to make a girl become another easy lay. 

The guy who approached her in the bar, that night even looked like one of the guys from her old childhood fairytale movies. Except for the hair, he looked exactly like the dashing yet annoying young gentleman from the story about the princess who had to married a prince to become queen. 

If she wasn't burned so many times before maybe she could have fallen for his unbelievably stupid pick-up lines. She’s pretty sure Jordan used something similar to get her panties off originally or maybe it was the high school boyfriend. She knew better this time around. 

 

She was prepared. She easily deflected the blue-eyed player’s obvious lines with a joke and a death glare. She really didn’t need anybody else’s help to deal with the guy. She had no problem whatsoever breaking someone else’s nose.

She was actually surprised her classmates decided to use him as a punching bag. She wasn’t surprised by the reason though, except in the case of the one the blue-eyed guy called “Cupcake” because she was sure he was gay. On the way back to their accommodations for the night, she found out that they only did it to increase the probability of becoming her next boyfriend. In other words, they were trying to impress her so she would sleep with them. They were no better than the guy at the bar. Actually, they were worse because at least he was honest about his intentions.

That entire incident cemented in her mind that guys were only after one thing. They only saw her as a piece of ass or a glorified blow up doll. She was tired of being used. She needed to change the way she dealt with guys. Sex was great but having your heart broken was not. Emotional attachment was just too hard.

XXXX

Over the next two years, Nyota avoided relationships at all cost. This strategy worked well until she met Professor Spock. Nyota ended up in one of his classes during the spring semester last year. His class quickly became her favorite class even if she was staying up until 2 AM studying just to keep up with his dynamic mind. 

Professor Spock was unlike anybody else she has ever met before. He was brilliant even if on the surface he seemed a little cold. He was an engaging spirit that sucked her in before she even knew what was happening. 

Professor Spock was actually a nice individual and wasn’t just trying to sleep with her or anyone else. She saw him turn down the plethora of students and faculty members who asked him out. She blames his niceness on the fact that he isn’t completely human. 

He treated her with respect. Professor Spock found her intelligent and not just beautiful. He enjoyed speaking with her about his home planet and other areas of interest. She enjoyed speaking with him about her intellectual passions and not just what film she watched last week. It was a great feeling to meet a guy that treated her as an intellectual equal.

Even though she was weary of having any type of relationship with a guy she somehow developed a little crush on Professor Spock. It was notable because he was one of the few guys that she trusted implicitly.

She felt like she was 17 again when she was around him. He brought out her inner teenager so easily. 

So maybe she was asking him to explain obscure Vulcan terms to her whenever possible, even if she could have looked the words up on her own. Maybe she was taking part in his study group, even though she was very familiar with the material. Maybe she signed up for one of his classes during the fall semester this year just so she could spend more time with him, even though it meant she was taking a suicide schedule. 

Yes, maybe she invited him to coffee a couple of times. With him, Coffee wasn't just about sex for the first time in years. She actually wanted a relationship with someone for the first time since Jordan two years earlier. 

XXX  
Of course, it wasn’t that simple. The first major obstacle was Spock himself. He was her professor. He wanted to be her professor and nothing more. He actually used the school’s policy on relationships between professors and students, to keep from having anything more than friendship with her. 

Honestly, the policy about students and professors dating was a joke. Nobody followed it. She knew of several professors who were sleeping with students now. One of the members of the Admiralty, who will remain nameless, started dating her future husband when he was a student in her class.

The most notorious violator of the policy was Professor Johnson, who worked with Spock on the Kobayashi Maru simulation. This professor even propositioned Nyota a couple of times, but backed off when she said she would report him after she played for him a recording of the conversation they just had. He asked her to go down on him in the nearest supply closet in some obscure language. The man was a slime ball of the worst kind. Still, if Professor Johnson could do it and not get caught, then it would be perfectly okay for her and Spock to have a romantic relationship.

In a weird way, she admired that Professor Spock respected the policy. The fact that he wasn’t just interested in sleeping with her made her care about him even more. However, she thought that if she kept being persistent Spock would see things her way. 

About eight months ago, she thought they were almost to the point where Spock would be comfortable with having a relationship with her that was non-platonic. Yet it didn’t happen. She blames the most important obstacle of all for that.

Jim Kirk, also known as the guy who tried to get in her pants in Iowa, is the main thing keeping her from Professor Spock. 

 

She hated him. She hated him for what he represented. His piercing blue eyes and obvious pickup lines were representative of all the guys that have screwed her literally and emotionally over. 

She can't listen to his pickup lines and not think of the guys that hurt her. She couldn't help but think about that brokenhearted girl that cried and cried for some silly guy who wasn't worth her time. She would never be a fool again, and therefore she made sure to keep Jim Kirk at arm’s length from herself. She needed to see him as the same as all the other guys, to keep herself from becoming another notch on Jim Kirk’s bedpost.

To do this she refused to see him as anything other than how he presented himself in Iowa. She will not see him as intelligent, despite the fact that he can easily keep up with her in a battle of wits. She refuses to acknowledge the fact that he actually understands what she said when she calls him derogatory terms in multiple languages. 

She will only allow herself to see all the other guys who fucked her over when he flirted with her. It was just easier to keep away if she didn’t see him as an actual person but as the stereotype that did her wrong one too many times.  
Then something happened eight months ago. He stopped flirting with her. Actually, Jim stopped flirting with everyone. At first, she didn't think anything of it. Maybe she was hoping that he wasn't who she thought he was even if she wasn’t letting him be more than the player stereotype on purpose. 

It became obvious to her why Jim stopped flirting with everybody the first time he made a move on Spock. He had a brand-new favorite target and it was the guy Nyota was in love with.

She didn't see it coming, but should have. Professor Spock was a very attractive individual because of his personality, intelligence, and physical beauty. She knows that other girls were quite interested in Spock. Up until eight months ago, Nyota was the only one that he would even talk to outside of class.

Originally, she couldn't see Jim Kirk wanting to be with Professor Spock. First, although she made jokes about him sleeping with farm animals she was positive just because of a vast number of women she has seen him making out with on campus that he was straight. Really, she is going to have to learn to stop judging people on first impressions. 

Ironically enough, it was her own fault that Jim became infatuated with Professor Spock. Although, she is not proud to admit it, during her ‘crazy schoolgirl with a crush’ phase Nyota volunteered to take over a classmates spot during the Kobayashi simulation so she would have an excuse to spend more time was Spock. Candace wanted private time with her then boyfriend and Nyota wanted a chance to show off in front of Spock. Her plan would have worked out perfectly if it wasn’t for the fact that Spock wasn’t going to observe that day. 

 

Using her charming smile, she convinced Professor Spock to change his observation day. Because she got him to change his observation day, Spock ended up watching Cadet Kirk’s first attempt at the test and the two instantly became intrigued with each other. So really, this was all her fault.

XXXX

She first became aware of Spock’s infatuation with Jim two days later when Professor Spock asked her before a discussion group what she knew about Jim Kirk. For some reason he thought she was a friend of Jim’s. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The truth of the matter is other than their first encounter in Iowa two years earlier, she didn’t really know that much about him except what she knew about guys like him. She and Jim had a class or two together over the last two years, but she usually avoided him. It wasn’t that hard because when he actually did show up to class, he spent the whole time trying to get a date or having communicator sex with some unsuspecting idiot. 

She was surprised the guy was in upper level classes because he acted like such a slacker. Usually you have to have at least a Bachelors degree or even a Masters to be in some of the classes that they shared. This confirmed in her mind that he was only at the academy because of who his daddy was. 

She did tell Spock about her entire first encounter with Cadet Kirk. For some odd reason Spock had a really funny expression on his face when she mentioned the farm animal thing.

From her conversation with Spock, she was starting to wonder if he might just have a crush on Jim Kirk. The thought must have been generated by her own school girl with a crush behavior regarding Spock. Jealousy could only explain her coming to such a crazy conclusion. First, there was No Way Jim Kirk was Spock’s type. Jim is loud, brash, and a complete idiot. He gets in bar fights. Jim Kirk had a notorious reputation for over indulging in sex, alcohol, and stupid guy things. Jim Kirk could keep the rumor mill busy by himself with half the brainless things he does. 

At that time, it seemed impossible that Spock would be asking her these questions because he has a crush on Jim Kirk. A part of her hoped he was asking her because he was making excuses to talk to her. As their conversation continued she knew that was just wishful diluted little girl thinking on her part.

"Why do you want to know more about him?" She finally asked quickly, as she became more concerned with their conversation. She was 97% positive Spock was acting like a teenage girl with a crush on Jim Kirk. He was displaying all the classic symptoms except for scribbling Jim’s initials in his PADD and having a love stone expression on his face the entire time. Then again, Spock did not exactly do expressions beyond the raising of an eyebrow.

 

"I found his reaction to being unable to win the Kobayashi Maru fascinating. I want to understand why he had such a reaction, so that I may improve the test." It was a plausible explanation to anyone but her. It was so obvious. Spock had been taken in by the charms of Jim Kirk. She needed to intervene quickly for his sake. This had nothing to do with the fact that she was in love with Spock, nothing to do with it whatsoever. Really, she was only acting in Spock’s best interest. 

 

"The only reason why he acted that way is because he is a self-absorbed cocky brat, who always gets what he wants including a spot at the academy. I personally don't think he's even smart enough to be here. If his daddy didn't die saving 800 people he probably wouldn't be here. He only acted that way because he couldn't get his way." 

 

She was being unbelievably blunt on purpose and hoped it would work. Since he did not ask any more questions she was sure that killed his Jim Kirk crush for about five minutes.

The fact that Spock kept gazing at Jim Kirk during their entire study group told her the crush was still there. It didn’t matter that Jim spent the entire time looking at her legs. At least she thought that at the time. She knows better now.

That night she was worried about Spock’s infatuation, even if at the time it seemed only one sided. After study group, once again Spock rejected her invitation for coffee. She was pretty sure it was because of his infatuation with a certain blue eyed boy. With eyes like that, it’s easy for someone to become enamored if they haven’t been taken in by that type of guy before.

She told herself that as long as Jim Kirk wasn't actively pursuing Spock there was nothing to worry about. At that point, she was still convinced Jim Kirk was the poster boy for hyper heterosexual. Spock was missing the one thing Jim liked the most. Even if Spock was crushing on Jim, it didn’t matter because nothing could happen. 

Maybe she was a little upset Spock was starting to ignore her a bit because of his crush on Jim. Usually Professor Spock ate lunch in his office and she would come up with some reason to join him. Now he was eating in the cafeteria so he could stare at the obvious object of his affection.

XXX

Three weeks later, her happy delusion fell apart. She learned a very important lesson: never underestimate Jim Kirk. Jim actually liked Spock in an ‘I want to sleep with him’ sort away.

She watched Jim’s first disasters attempt to get into Spock’s pants with glee. It was horrible. Jim utilized some of the worst pickup lines she has ever heard. ’I just wanted to be your friend.’ Yeah that's what Andy tried. Andy said that he wanted to just be her friend; instead, he took her virginity and never called her again. Andy did not even get her off and it hurt like hell.

At first glance, it looked like Spock was completely ignoring Jim. She knew better. If he really wanted to blow Jim off, Spock would have said ‘Vulcans do not have friends’ and left without another word. She is pretty sure she saw the Vulcan equivalent of a smile as Spock walked away. The only thing going in her favor was the fact that Spock did not write down Jim’s contact information.

If she were not already sure that Spock may have a tiny crush on Jim, she would be positive that Spock would not fall for those lines. However, due to the preexisting infatuation she was worried. She fell for those same lines once upon a time and she was concerned about Spock doing the same.   
XXXX  
Two days later, in an effort to be a good friend and to keep Spock from going through the same heartbreaks that she went through once upon a time; she decided to warn him about the real Jim Kirk. Actually, she decided to warn him about assholes in general.

Really, her efforts were completely selfless. She just didn't want Spock to go through what she did. She was trying to be a good friend. 

During the last two days, she came to the conclusion that nothing was going to happen between her and Spock. At least not while he is still her professor and she wasn’t going to derail her academic progress just for a guy even if she was half in love with him. Spock was the best professor she ever had and she was not dropping his class just so she can sleep with him.

Therefore, her decision to speak with Spock about Jim had nothing to do with her crush or her being jealous. She wished somebody would have hit her upside the head during the whole Andy situation years ago. Honestly, her motives were pure. 

Really, she wasn't using her friendship with Spock to further her own romantic relationship with him. She wouldn't treat him like they treated her in the past. She would respect Spock’s wishes. At least, that's what she told herself. It's amazing how easy it is to lie to oneself when you are in ‘silly schoolgirl crush’ mode. Doesn’t Love make fools of us all?

XXXX

Her warning didn’t work. Against her wishes, Spock decided to ask Jim out to play chess. Even if it was happening in a public park on campus, it was still a date. Apparently, it was a really good date because suddenly Spock no longer had time to meet with her to help her with class assignments during his office hours or any other time. 

Spock was always with Jim during the first few weeks of their acquaintance. How much chess can one person play? She didn't think anything of that because if Jim Kirk was like Andy and Jordan, he would lose interest if he didn't get what he wanted. Considering how hard it was to get Spock to go against the student/professor relationship policy she knew Jim didn't have the patience. 

Over the next few months, she dealt with the fact that Professor Spock was canceling or rescheduling study days for her and the other students. She adjusted to the fact that he scaled back his office hours to the normal amount that most professors at the academy had. She got used to only seeing him during group tutoring sessions or in class. She was okay with that even if she really wasn’t. 

Because at first, Jim was still going out with other people, occasionally she almost believed that maybe the two were just friends. She had no indication that Jim was bisexual except for what he said. At least, she didn’t have any indication otherwise, until she saw a reluctant Jim excepting advances from Professor Johnson. She could tell Jim was not quite comfortable with being kissed by the older man. She was a linguistics expert and she could read body language perfectly. Jim wanted to run away, but let the guy continue kissing him anyway. 

She assumed he was going along with it to raise his GPA, because it looked like he was being forced. That’s what she thought until she discovered that Jim tested out of all of Professor Johnson’s classes. 

 

As long as Jim was sleeping with other people for whatever reason, that meant he wasn’t sleeping with Spock. She held onto that hope as long as she could. She could deal with Spock not being with her as long as he wasn’t with someone else. Because honestly, the thought of Spock being with anyone else made her stomach sick.

XXXX

A few weeks before Christmas, Spock did something that gave her hope that he was still interested in her as a possible girlfriend. One day after class Spock asked her what was traditionally done on earth to make amends for offending someone. Essentially, he asked for the perfect apology present. Of course, it took him five minutes to actually say that.

Again, her ‘inner delusional schoolgirl’, who still believed in fairy tales, obviously thought this was an attempt on his part to get in her good graces again. She loved it and told him to pick up her favorite brand of chocolate cookies. 

These were not just any chocolate chip cookies these were Godiva triple chocolate chip cookies that were dipped in chocolate. These cookies were extremely delicious and still made with real Chocolate the old fashioned way. She never did get those cookies and her little inner schoolgirl sulked in the corner of her mind, because the object of her affection obviously was not interested. She was pissed off when she found out that Jim Kirk got Spock’s cookies.

 

XXX

Again, due to her ‘crazy schoolgirl with a crush behavior’, she may have or may not have convinced another student, to let her take over their duty during the Kobayashi Maru simulation. She may have or may not have purposely chosen to be part of Jim Kirk’s second attempt because she knew Spock was observing and she would get to enjoy watching Jim fail miserably. 

She did get to see Jim fail miserably, but she also saw a person actually tried to beat this test and acted like this was a real emergency. She couldn’t believe he literally fried the simulation. Then he kicked the console before he started cursing in near perfect Klingon. In all the sessions she has been a part of, she has never seen someone try so hard to pass this test. 

 

Because of her stupid inner school girl who believed in fairy tales, she thought it would be a good idea to wait outside for Spock. That was a mistake.

Spock was not alone. He and Jim Kirk were engaged in a very heavy Vulcan make out session. Actually, in Vulcan terms she was pretty sure this was considered heavy petting. It was almost pornographic by Vulcan standards. She wanted to cry.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was obvious by the type of contact, Spock was engaging in some sort of sexual relationship with Jim. Spock would not even let her touch his hand and he was letting Jim grope him Vulcan style in public. That was so unfair.

Okay, she was jealous and very upset. She may have spent an hour crying, after throwing up. Not that she would tell anybody that. After she wiped away her tears, she was angry. How the hell could Jim Kirk succeed when she felled miserably? 

Maybe she was just misreading the situation. She was still convinced that Jim wasn’t necessarily the most intelligent guy, even if he could speak Klingon. Maybe he had no idea that he was engaging in Vulcan hand sex in the hallway. 

 

Before she spent the entire weekend secretly crying over the fact that maybe just maybe Spock was really into someone else, she decided that it would be best to ask Spock directly. It took her three days to get up the courage to talk to him about what she saw. She did it during office hours, because she was too embarrassed to have anybody else find out what happened. That conversation with Spock was probably one of the most painful experiences she has ever had in her life.

 

“I thought you said you didn't date students or was that just an excuse?” If he really didn’t like her, she wished he would have just told her the truth, instead of using the school’s policy as an easy out. That was just humiliating. She continued on without allowing him time to tell her something that she didn’t want to hear. 

 

“I saw you making out with Jim, by Vulcan standards, in the simulation lab." She could keep the sadness out of her voice but her anger bled through as she practically screamed the words.

"Not that it is any of your business, but I am not dating Cadet Kirk." His words were short and clipped, but she felt like he was lying to her. Did Spock really expect her to believe that after what she saw? By the way Jim and Spock acted around each other; it was obvious they were more than just friends. 

Maybe he was lying to her by omission. If Jim was like Andy, he probably really didn’t do relationships. Maybe they were not dating but just having sex. That didn’t make her feel any better. She felt like crying again. She still envied Jim for having Spock and that envy came out as anger.

"Of course, you're not dating.” She said with bitter sarcasm. “This is Jim Kirk. He doesn't date, just fucks a lot.” She said purposely choosing the most vulgar word possible. “He's nothing but a conceited slut. He's probably trying to pass your linguistics class on his back." She said remembering what she saw Jim doing with Professor Johnson months earlier. Even she is aware that her words are fueled by jealousy and pain. 

 

She’s jealous because Jim has the person she wants and she just isn’t sure that Jim deserves Spock’s heart. Yet, for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to mention the specific example with Professor Johnson. Maybe that was because a part of her didn’t believe Jim was as evil as she thought he was.

"You will not use that vulgar language in my presence, especially in relation to one of your classmates." He said an octave higher than normal but it was obvious he was angry with her. His eyes told her everything. 

 

"What I do or do not do with Cadet Kirk is none of your business. Academy regulations preclude me from engaging in a romantic or sexual relationship with any student, who is directly under my instruction. Because Cadet Kirk is not one of my students, he would not fall under that regulation, unlike you cadet." 

If she wasn’t so angry, she would have laughed. She really should have at least looked at Jim’s schedule before this confrontation. She still could have pointed out that because Jim was taking a simulation that Spock created, they would technically be subject to the same student/teacher policy that she and Spock were under. Yet, she couldn’t when she realized the truth. 

 

Spock cared about Jim. Maybe even loved Jim but she couldn’t bring herself to voice that out loud. It just hurt too much. Instead, she decided to lash out at Jim’s intelligence as she grabbed Spock’s arm to stop him from walking away.

"He is not in any of your classes because he doesn't have the intellectual capacity to understand half the things you teach." She said bitterly as she tried to keep the tears out of her voice.

"Your opinion about someone you do not know is disturbing at best.” If only he understood how well she really knew men with Jim Kirk’s personality. “It is best not to judge someone so harshly based solely on one experience.” She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t just basing her assumption off of her encounter with Jim but on several painful personal experiences. She was basing her opinion on watching other girls (and guys) get their hearts broken, by that Jim Kirk type a million times. She was too angry, so she just kept quiet.

 

“How do you expect to do your job properly when you become a communications officer, if you automatically judge people by such illogical standards?" He had the audacity to question her job performance. How dare he, her opinion regarding Jim had nothing to do with her harboring prejudiced torch other individuals.

"I'm not being judgmental, his reputation precedes him." She said in her defense. 

In his first two years at Starfleet academy, Jim Kirk managed to get a reputation for being the ultimate skirt chaser and player. (Although she was aware the rumor mill was not completely accurate since there were no indications whatsoever that Jim played for both teams.) She tried to use evidence from the rumor mill to convince herself Jim Kirk was another Andy or Jordan, except he wasn’t.

Jordan and Andy tried to convince naiveté little girls that they loved them and would never leave their side. Jim never said the L word. He didn’t promise the individuals that he’s slept with love or forever. The only thing he ever promised was that his partner would have a mind numbing orgasm or four. (Also according to the rumor mill, unlike certain ex-boyfriends of hers, he could actually deliver that promise.)

Yes, Jim did sleep around a lot, but he did actually speak to these girls again after sex. Just because Jim Kirk had sex with you didn’t mean that he lost all respect for you. Great, Jim Kirk treated his former conquests better than any of her ex-boyfriends or hookups ever treated her. That just gave her another reason to hate him. Why can’t he just be a bastard like everyone else? 

The only conquest she has ever seen Jim Kirk avoid like the plague after the fact was Professor Johnson and even she could understand wanting to avoid the person. Again, the guy was a prick. 

"I'm just worried about you, I'm your friend and I don't want you to get hurt." She said this last line as she made direct skin contact with Spock's forearm. Maybe she should not have done that because she was sure he felt all of her emotions. She knew she was conflicted and hurt. She loved Spock and he didn’t love her. The jealousy was pulsing through her as well because she knew whom Spock really cared about.

"Contrary to your point of view, I am quite capable of taking care of myself. Again, my relationship with Cadet Kirk is not your business. If you make me choose between your friendship and his, you will be sadly disappointed by my choice." As he pushed her away, that is when she finally told herself that he really did love Jim. She wanted to cry again.

She really didn’t know what to do. She really did care about Spock but she finally realized that it just wasn’t going to happen. She was glad Gaila was with her boyfriend of the moment because she did not want anyone to see her brokenhearted ice cream and crying session. After getting the tears out of her system, she decided to do a little research on the guy Spock was probably in love with.

She refuses to explain exactly how she managed to get into a file that the Admiralty kept on Jim Kirk, let’s just say it pays to have a roommate who is a computer science genius and has no ethical qualms about breaking into certain highly encrypted files. 

Did you ever have a moment in your life where you realized that everything you thought you knew about a person was completely wrong? Her mouth fell down in shock when she saw Jim Kirk’s GPA. Even though he barely showed up to classes he had a perfect 4.0. Actually, his GPA is higher than a 4.0 this semester because of various special projects. She tried to ignore the note in the file about how Jim’s attendance has improved the due to his relationship with Professor Spock. At least, Admiral Barnett knew that something was going on and approved because it kept Jim out of trouble.

 

She almost fainted when she found out that Jim already had Master’s Degree in advanced engineering and physics before he even arrived at the academy. She was right about one thing, the player personality was fake. She just didn’t realize it was this fake. He really was not the person she thought he was. 

Because Jim already had a degree, he tested out of all of Professor Johnson's classes. This troubled her. If Jim was so uncomfortable with Professor Johnson, why did he allow what ever happened a few months ago to happen?

XXXXX

A few days later at the next group study session she wasn’t that shocked to see Jim there as Spock’s assistant. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was told ‘Vulcans do not do petty’ she would be positive that Jim was there just to show off his superior linguistic skills. Jim’s Klingon and Vulcan were flawless although she finally did discover that he didn’t know any Romulan whatsoever. At least, she finally found a language she could insult him in that he wouldn’t understand.

 

She thought she had it bad after her mom’s divorce. At least, her mother didn’t drag her around to different planets just to get away from the ghost of her father. She also did not end up on Tarsus IV. This knowledge helped her hate Jim just a little less when she was forced to spend copious amounts of time with him.

 

XXXXX

 

Over the next two months, she watched Jim and Spock become closer. Okay, let’s be honest, they were already close. She watched the two of them act like an old married couple in front of her. Every time she saw Spock giving Jim a Vulcan kiss, when he thought no one was looking, she felt her heart being ripped out but she wouldn’t let anybody know how much it hurt. 

She felt it was obvious to everybody that the two were together in every sense of the word. The two were not that discreet about engaging in Vulcan hand sex in the middle of study sessions at the library. Maybe she should be happy about the fact that Jim and Spock were now having lunch in Spock’s office so she didn’t have to see the extreme ‘teenager in love’ behavior. 

Of course, in her mind she now sees Spock and Jim having sex on his desk in the middle of the day. That particular vision made her slightly nauseous.

She was still jealous. It became worse when she was forced to accept that Spock’s feelings were not one sided. Jim Kirk was acting like a teenager in love. He was following Spock around campus like a lost puppy. He was the one wearing that obvious love stone expression. The moment that truly clenched it was when Jim turned down that same girl who she caught giving Jordan that BJ three years earlier. That in it self proved it must be love.

 

A few days ago, she was ready to completely give up on Spock and congratulated him on his relationship with Jim. She invited him to coffee just for coffee. Maybe she should have said tea instead considering the sexual innuendo that came out of Jim’s mouth. After two months of being forced to spend extreme amounts of time with Jim, she was starting to realize that the flirting was his natural defense mechanism. That still didn’t mean she didn’t leave the study area pissed at Jim. She was so irritated that she actually left her PADD lying on the table in the private study room.

She ended up overhearing a conversation that she shouldn’t have and she now knew why Spock kept her at arm’s length for so long. At least, she now understood why Jim called the one boy ‘cupcake’.  
It wasn’t her fault that she overheard. It’s her job to overhear conversations. It’s not a skill you can turn off. She wished she could when she heard some of the things that made her almost sympathetic regarding Jim. At least they left the room before she could hear more Jim Kirk related relationship horror stories. It was bad enough that she found out the first girl Jim ever slept with only slept with him because he was George Kirk’s son. That had to be 100 times worse than the Andy disaster.  
Maybe because of her ’all human Males are only after one thing mindset, she failed to realize that male hearts can just as easily be hurt. Now she understands why in the past Jim preferred one night stands. He was doing the exact thing she was. If you don’t let anybody close enough to hurt you, than no one can hurt you.   
XXX

All sympathy for Jim went away 20 minutes ago when she caught him underneath her roommate’s bed. She instantly flashed back to the story her mother told her about walking in on Nyota’s father screwing Nyota’s first step mom.

That’s why she found herself walking in Spock’s office ready to kill his boyfriend as she prepares to tell him the awful truth.

 

To be continued


	2. Maybe it is Him

Nyota was already in a bad mood before her disasters conversation with Professor Spock. She was supposed to be spending all afternoon in the long reign sensor lab monitoring solar systems. The assignment was routine, but it was a requirement for graduation. Two hours in, she picked up an emergency Klingon transmission about an entire armada being destroyed.

She personally thought this was very important. When she told the person in charge about what she heard, he completely dismissed her concerns as he spent the entire time gazing at her chest and legs. Sometimes she thinks the person who designed the female Starfleet uniform was a pervert who knew nothing about female bodies.

That was why she left early and had to see Jim Kirk under her roommate's bed. The fact that he flirted with her just made her angrier. Now that she was slightly less likely to kill someone, she realizes that they were playing their usual game. It wasn't really flirting anymore. It was more of an intellectual exercise involving vast quantities of sexual innuendos. As Spock said, Jim was messing with her head. With his 4.0 GPA, genius level IQ, and suicide schedule course load, she is now well aware that he has the intellectual capacity to keep up with her.

Her mind automatically went to a bad place because of her prior experiences and her roommate's habits. In all the years that she has shared a room with Gaila, she has only brought somebody back to the dorm room to literally study three times. Everyone else has fallen into the category of 'special friend' because her friend likes sex. Nyota seriously doubted Gaila would bring one of her 'study friends' to the dorm room on a Friday. The guy she met in Iowa would easily become one of Gaila's flavor of the day. In the heat of the moment, Nyota forgot that version of Jim Kirk does not really exist.

Then there was her father who taught Ny at a very young age that men couldn't keep their dicks to themselves. When she was little, she remembered her father bringing these strange women over to the house and promised Ny if she didn't tell mommy she would get the new Starfleet edition Barbie doll or some other coveted prize. He always came up with crazy excuses for why the women were there. How many 'aunts' can one child have?

As an adult, she knows that her father was sleeping with all these women in her mother's house. In her anger, she assumed Jim was telling her and Spock the same type of lie that her father told Ny and her mother despite the fact Jim was fully dressed.

She should have known her assumption was wrong because Gaila instantly became pissed. Gaila is never angry unless she is provoked. Her friend was not ashamed of sex and would probably admit to having sex with someone even if he or she was in a committed relationship. Instead, the moment Jim was out of the room she was yelling at her.

"Nothing happened. He is in love with someone else. Do you really think that little of me?" That should have been the first sign that she was wrong. She was too angry to think straight and said nothing as she changed to go see Professor Spock.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The conversation that took place 20 minutes later felt like a bucket of cold water being poured over her head waking her out of her angry and blind state.

"Cadet, I have told you time and time again that my relationship with James is none of your concern. I value your friendship, but it is impossible for us to have more than that." Spock told her in a voice that was beyond calm without even using her name. At leas,t he paid her the courtesy of not specifically telling her the reason why they couldn't have a relationship. She already knew it was because he was completely in love with Jim.

Maybe if she wasn't so heartsick, she would have explained that friends take an active interest in their friend's love life no matter what. The real friends do anyway. Gaila was one of her real friends and Nyota remembered when Gaila tried to tell her that Jordan was not what he seemed. She did not listen. Nyota slammed the door on her face and didn't speak to her for a week. Weeks later when she walked in on Jordan, she realized that Gaila was really just trying to be her friend.

Yes a part of her still loved Spock but he was acting the same way she did three years ago. She was well aware that love was blinding at times. Her mom never saw the signs with her father. Ny never saw the signs with Jordan. She assumed that was what was happening this time. This is what caused her to voice her greatest fear aloud.

"Are you in love with him?" She phrased it as a question but she already knew the answer. That is why she did not give him time to respond. She could not take hearing the words from his lips. "Obviously you are. That is why you're letting him cheat on you with my roommate. That's why you can't let go of him. You are completely head over heels in love with him. You deserve someone who loves you completely." Her voice was so bitter, but she did not care. She couldn't hide the pain and jealousy anymore. It was consuming and blinding.

That all-encompassing jealousy is what caused her to make a stupid mistake. Her inner 'schoolgirl with a crush' took over and she tried to kiss Spock the human way. It was a desperate move fueled by resentment and envy. Before she retained complete control of her faculties, he pushed her away. How stupid could she be?

"Again my relationship with Cadet Kirk is none of your business. I already knew that my boyfriend was studying with your roommate." When he actually called Jim his boyfriend her heart hurt a little bit more, but she could not show it. Part of her mind knew that if Spock knew what he was doing then Jim obviously wasn't pulling the same thing her father pulled in the past. Ny's mom never knew where her father was. Nyota's father always lied to her. She was just too angry, jealous, and hurt to see that there was a difference this time. Instead, she chose to lash out again.

"Studying so that's what they're calling it now." She said in a bitter voice fueled by the pain of knowing that Jim was now Spock's boyfriend. "He's cheating on you with my roommate. Are you that clueless? He's no good for you." How many times did she want to say that to her mom, but never did? In this case she wondered how true that statement was.

A part of her thought Jim may be good for Spock. For example, this semester she didn't have to study until 2:00 AM to keep up with Spock. He was starting to design his curriculum more for the human mind. Professor Spock didn't come off sounding anywhere near as condescending as he did the first time she was in his class. He allowed students with special circumstances to turn in assignments late. In the past, he would not do this unless regulations required it. If nothing else, Jim was turning Spock into a much more understanding instructor.

On several occasions this semester, she was almost positive she saw Spock smiling. Usually this was in study group when Jim was around. Jim makes Spock happy, if he allows himself to feel the emotion.

"Yet, he respects my boundaries and personal wishes more than you ever have." Spock said in response, pulling Nyota out of her musing. Was that statement true? When did she not respect Spock's wishes? Then she remembered all the times she kept pushing him to go out even though he said no. Okay, so maybe he had a point there. Was she being like all those guys who constantly annoyed her with fake pickup lines? Maybe she was.

"You said yourself that you did not see Jim or your roommate engaging in sexual intercourse." She never walked in on her father engaging in sexual intercourse with his play toys, but she knew it happened when she was old enough to see the truth.

Maybe she should have given Jim the benefit of the doubt in this case. She was well aware that he didn't sleep around because he was a player but because he didn't trust people not to hurt him. She did the same thing, so why was she judging him so harshly? Maybe she does it because he has the guy she loves. Jealousy can turn anyone into a sinner.

"Your roommate was also fully dressed and surrounded by study materials." Okay ,now that her mind is no longer completely clouded by anger and jealousy, she does accept that as a very valid point. Nyota has never actually seen study materials on Gaila's bed before when she was fooling around with her 'special friends' and she distinctly remembers study materials.

"My boyfriend was also fully dressed when you found him underneath your roommate's bed. I believe you were the only one in your underwear. I do not know why you chose to share that fact." Again, why did he have to poke holes in her completely logical argument? Also, the only reason why she was in her underwear was because she wanted to take a very long bath and forget about the idiots she had to deal with in the sensor lab. Maybe she should have left the part about her being in her underwear out of this story.

"I seriously doubt that Jim would have told me his exact location if he was engaging in the activities that you suggested." Okay, that was an extremely valid point. Jordan did not tell her he was going to be at the club that night. It was a complete accident that she was at that particular club and needed to use the bathroom at that particular moment resulting in her walking in on him receiving a BJ from some random girl.

"Then why was he hiding underneath her bed, if they were just studying? Why did he flirt with me as he practically ran from the room?" The first question was valid. If he was really just studying, why was he hiding under the bed? There was really no point in her asking the second question because she already knew the answer and so did Spock.

"I believe my boyfriend is engaging in what you humans refer to as "messing with your head". Due to his extraordinary intelligence, he's quite good at it." She was almost positive she heard smugness in Spock's voice as he said that last sentence. Spock didn't even give her time to respond he just walked out of the room before she could defend herself.

Now she was stuck sitting at his desk reflecting on what he said. Maybe she was overreacting. Vulcan's were normally logical people. Spock was looking at the data without his emotions filtering it. The evidence clearly shows that Jim was really just studying. Was it cliché to say that she was blinded by jealousy? Probably but it would be her excuse.

She had no idea how long she stayed in Spock's office. She was too angry and slightly ashamed to go back to her room. She knew Gaila would start yelling at her the moment she returned. She could not deal with it right now. The sensor lab was completely out of the question because she could not deal with that guy again. She would make up for hours on Sunday or tomorrow after the simulation. For some reason Jim talked her into being on his team for his third attempt at the Kobayashi Maru Saturday.

With nothing better to do than wallow in her self-made misery she checked her e-mail. The first message was a very angry e-mail from her roommate telling her that she was a complete idiot and a lovesick fool. She was always one for bluntness. The amount of righteous anger coming from Gaila told her once and for all she had been stupid.

She wondered if chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookies would be an adequate peace offering for Gaila. Maybe she could pick some up before she went home.

She sat the PADD down on what she assumed was Spock's desk as she tried to think of what to say. She finally decided to go with 'I'm sorry for being a Bitch' after 15 minutes of contemplation. When she opened the device, again she realized it was not her PADD. Because of the Jim Kirk wallpaper, she assumed it was Spock's PADD and decided to look around a little.

When she came across a list of conquests, she knew it wasn't Spock. She forgot he shared an office with the despicable Professor Johnson because the guy was too busy propositioning students to actually do any work. She rarely remembered seeing him there.

In his little list, he referred to her as the ice queen bitch and referred to Jim by expletives that she cannot repeat here. One thing was for sure; he really hated Jim and was slightly obsessed. An entire file was devoted to Jim on his PADD. At least, she now knows that Jim only slept with him because of some unspecified piece of blackmail and Professor Johnson hated that.

Nyota's instincts told her to copy the files to her PADD. She thought Professor Johnson was a complete dick, but she didn't believe that he was really forcing students to have sex with him. Considering what he said to her, Nyota should have known better. She knew that Jim was uncomfortable but he was a big boy and could take care of himself, so she was not worried at the time. Except Jim probably wasn't the only victim. There are individuals at the Academy as young as 13. What if Professor Johnson next target was that 17-year-old super genius from one of her classes last semester or the 15-year-old girl who she mentored last year? That could be bad.

Therefore, she knew that copying the file was the best thing to do and so was giving it to somebody who would do something about it. She just was not sure who to give it to. If Spock was not completely pissed off at her right now, she would send him the file. At the moment, he would probably delete it on principle, even if such a thing were illogical. Maybe she can talk to him tomorrow after she apologizes. She hopes Vulcans do not keep grudges.

She was transferring the file when Professor Johnson along with one of his special students walked into his office. The giggling made her nauseous. Seriously, what do these girls see in this guy?

"What are you doing here cadet? Commander Spock doesn't have office hours on Friday afternoons anymore." That must be why Professor Johnson was bringing back one of his special students to the office. There is no way he would do such a thing if he believed Spock or anyone else was in the office. Maybe that is why he was never there.

"I know that. Spock said he would be here this afternoon to go over some things for the next exam. I would hate to have anything jeopardize my perfect 4.0. I guess something came up. I will send him an e-mail when I get back to my room." She said as she showed just enough cleavage to keep him from seeing her sneak her PADD back in to her pocket.

"Maybe he'll work out the same arrangement with you that he has with the Kirk boy." He said it in a tone of voice that made her skin crawl, as he continued to leer at her chest. It was as if he was implying that both she and Jim earned their GPA on their back. Knowing the Professor, that was exactly what he was implying.

She let out a breath she did not know she was holding once she was out of the building with the information and away from him. Just being in his presence annoyed her.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later after her great escape from Spock's office, she showed up to her room with real New York style pizza, non-replicated ice cream, and her favorite cookies. If her roommate was there, this was to be her peace offering. If she wasn't there this would be the start of Nyota's pity party. Considering how much Spock is in love with , maybe she should have picked up some alcohol.

"I see your back from making a fool of yourself." Gaila said coldly the moment Nyota walked into the room. Gaila was alone getting ready to go out tonight.

"I'm sorry." Nyota said sheepishly as she walked inside.

"Why are you sorry? For being a judgmental Bitch or for trying to wreck somebody else's relationship because you cannot get over the fact that maybe Nyota he is just not that into you. You know Spock only wants to be your friend, you need to accept that and move on." Okay, she knows she deserves that but it still hurt. The truth often does.

"I'm sorry for being a bitch. I am sorry I let my jealousy get the best of me. I brought pizza and cookies."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to."

"I will do that tomorrow before the simulation."

"Good. I am going to a party but I could still have a slice of pizza. It is not as if I will have time to eat once I am there. This is my favorite earth food." Gaila said grabbing the pizza from her and putting it on the table.

"Why did you automatically assume that I was screwing him?" Gaila asked as she opened the box and grabbed a slice.

"Because I was a jealous idiot who had a flashback to the Jordan incident and all the stupid stuff my dad did when I was a kid. I am sorry I took it out on you." Nyota said with genuine remorse.

"Not everyone is your father or Jordan. You need to learn to trust again. I do not sleep with other people's boyfriends consciously and you know that. The Jordan incident is why I do not. Although, does it really count as cheating if Jim is still convinced that there just friends?"

"Wait, how can he think there just friends? I've seen them have Vulcan oral sex in front of me more than once."

"Same here, but there's still too much tension for actual sex to have occurred. Jim doesn't know what he's doing. He thinks the handholding is a sign of friendship." She said with a laugh.

"He speaks perfect Vulcan and Spock referred to Jim as his boyfriend. I was starting to believe that Jim's high IQ was not a misprint." That's when she remembered that in Vulcan there is a term that can mean friend or/and lover.

"That doesn't mean he's familiar with all of the cultural practices. I don't exactly tell you all the cultural practices of my former home planet."

"Good point. But it's so obvious that they are in love with each other."

"Jim is in love with him." Nyota swallowed an entire chocolate cookie whole when she heard that. "I could stand in front of him in just my panties and he wouldn't look at me. Actually you did that this afternoon and did you notice that he did not even try to look at your breast?" Nyota clutched the bag of chocolates tighter after she realized how true that statement was.

"Okay, you have already proved your point." She said having another cookie. “But, if you two were studying, why was Jim hiding under your bed? Do you two even have classes together this semester?" When Gaila did not answer her question, she got worried.

"Why are you not answering me?

"It's not what you think. If I tell you what we were really doing, you have to promise not to tell anybody."

"If it's bad, I am I'm going to tell Spock."

"He already knows. You know how obsessed Jim is with trying to beat the Kobayashi Maru?"

"Beyond, obsessed. If he did not take the test so seriously, I would be convinced he was sleeping with Spock just so he could beat the test. But that would be too much like cheating for him."

"You know he is too in love for that." Unfortunately she did. "Jim finally figured out a way to beat the test and I was helping him."

"How? The only way to beat the test is to reprogram it." That is when she got it. One of Jim's focuses in college was Computer Engineering, but Gaila was a programming genius. Between the two of them, they could do some serious damage.

Her roommate was also a closet hacker who has broken into the Starfleet Computer System on numerous occasions for fun. Maybe could help Nyota get more information on Professor Johnson.

"You two were planning on reprogramming the test so Jim could win?" That sounded a little too much like cheating for him to do something like that.

"Not exactly, we are reprogramming it so anybody who takes the test has the possibility of winning. I was supposed to be spending my evening hacking into the Starfleet Computer System to plant the new program. Unfortunately, Jimmy's 'not a boyfriend' figured it out and has graciously agreed not to report the incident to judiciary's as long as I agreed to help strengthen Starfleet's Computer System by being an ‘ethical’ hacker for the rest of this semester."

"Why did Jim need you?"

"Somebody had to place the program in the system. He couldn't exactly do it himself could he?" Gaila said taking a second slice.

"Yes, he could. Even if they do not realize there together you and me both know they are. If Jim asked Spock he would change the program."

"But because he so in love, he won't ask."

"Fuck. You are right. He also has access to Spock's computer and the PADD where he stores the program. Jim could have planted that program himself."

"Yes and when the Admiralty finds out, Spock will be getting kicked out as well." Good point.

"He really loves him? Jim completely loves him." She said in a whisper.

"Yes he does."

"I never stood a chance. I think I want to cry. I need more alcohol for this pity party. The chocolate and pizza are not working." She said out loud.

"Maybe he's completely gay. That's the only reason that I would turn you down, if you were into girls." Gaila said trying to be comforting.

"Thanks for staying in trying to cheer me up. I think I'm just going to watch some old movies and eat more junk food until I feel better about the guy I'm in love with being in love with someone else. Don't you have a party or a date to get to?"

"It's not important. I go out all the time. I am interested in learning more about earth cinema. I don't understand why there is so much sex involved."

"I think that's because most of your boyfriends take you to see porn. I have to introduce you to 20th and 21st century Disney. However, first I feel like watching Coming to America. It is culturally inaccurate, but hilarious. Thank you for staying with me."

"Don't mention it."


	3. It All Goes Downhill From Here

Part of her wondered if Gaila stayed with her the night before because she thought that she was on the verge of a tiny nervous breakdown. Going by past behavior, Gaila would never willingly subject herself to a girl's night in, especially when there was a major party as an alternative. Actually, in the three years that they have been roommates, Nyota does not remember Gaila ever staying in on a Friday night or really any night unless she was cramming for a test.

It was fun and it did get her mind off the fact that the first guy that she has allowed herself to fall for in two years was in love with someone else. They started with the original 20th century version of Coming to America. There was a remake/adaptation made about ten years ago called Coming to Earth about a prince from some made up planet trying to find his mate on Earth, but it didn't have the same sparkle as the original. The new person was not as funny as Eddie Murphy.

They moved on to watching 23st century romantic comedies as they ordered more pizza. She would have to do some serious running the next day to burn off all the calories she consumed during her brokenhearted binge.

At some point, there may have been very drunk karaoke. It's a little fuzzy at this point. After about three shots of whatever high proof alcohol her roommate had on hand, she started singing the best anti-love songs of the last 300 years. She personally hopes there are no video files of that particular performance.

They talked a lot that night once the alcohol kicked in, which was surprising considering that they avoided the subjects of Jim Kirk, Spock and her being a bitch that afternoon. This told her that her friend was staying with her to keep her from completely going off the deep end. (Nyota seriously doubts she can do anything more idiotic than what she did earlier that day.)

Her assumptions were completely confirmed when she overheard a very interesting conversation between Gaila and Jim 20 minutes before the simulation Saturday.

When she received a text message that morning from Spock's assistant that Jim's simulation would be happening three hours later, she was a little upset, but relieved she could sleep in a little longer. Fortunately, she avoided a horrible hangover but had a slight headache.

She was mostly irritated because Spock had his assistant send the message. That meant that he was still mad at her in a very Vulcan way. Spock did not tell her not to come at all. That has to be a good sign.

Since she did not have anything else to do that morning except avoid intrusive questions, she decided to get her required sensor lab hours in. That way she would have the rest of her weekend to recover emotionally before she had to deal with the Jim and Spock show Monday during study group.

She was not worried about the afternoon because Jim was usually too focused on the simulation to make snide comments about his 'not a boyfriend'. Her goal today was to get in and get out as fast as possible without making a fool of herself. She still has her pride, if nothing else.

Of course, she wasn't expecting to see Jim covered in bite marks that most likely came from one source as she was walking out of the restroom closest to the simulation lab. (For the sake of her emotional well-being, she chooses not to say that specific name in her mind.) Why did she have a feeling that it was her confrontation with Spock yesterday that finally pushed him out of denial?

Why did she think she could deal with this today? She was just about to call one of her linguistic friends to take her spot during Jim's simulation when she heard her roommate's voice. At least, she has a new target for her intrusiveness. Why is Gaila even there?

"I see that you have finally come out of denial. It looks like he has marked his property. Who knew Vulcans were that possessive in bed? You know there is this wonderful invention called a dermal regenerator? I think this is your boyfriend's way telling all the little girls and boys that you're off the market."

"You knew?” He asked with shock in his voice.

"Jimmy, everybody knew that you were in love with Spock, even my roommate who was kind of in love with him knew for months. Yesterday, you spent the entire time talking about Spock. During a two hour period you mentioned his name 87 times. My very attractive roommate stood in front of you in her underwear and you only asked her about the transmission she intercepted."

"It was important." He stays quiet for a moment before he continues. She is sure Gaila is rolling her eyes.

"Was it that obvious?" He said in defeat.

"Yes."

"I guess you now know why I didn't show up to the party last night." He said with a sigh.

"I wouldn't know. I wasn't there. You still need to introduce me to your friend later. I spent the night babysitting my roommate to make sure she didn't do anything stupid like show up to your new boyfriend's apartment for some crazy human murder-suicide thing." Okay, she completely resents that comment. She was not that obsessed despite yesterday's indiscretion.

"She would never do that. She will just come up with new dirty things to call me in obscure languages that supposedly I will not understand. I'm currently learning Romulan curse words so I can keep up with her."

"Maybe she wouldn't go that far. Although, I have a video file of her singing an extremely tipsy version of the 21st century anti-love song Fuck You. This occurred after her renditions of lovesick and the more contemporary I Wish I Never loved You." She's pretty sure Gaila is showing Jim footage of something she would like to completely forget happen once the PADD is put in front of Jim's face.

"That's not good. Can I have a copy?" Jim asks is her with a smile.

"No, I am using this the next time she gets mad about me bringing a 'friend' back to the room. I love her to death but she is such a prude. Let's just say she is a little upset that the first guy she has let herself become emotionally attached to in two years chooses you over her. She hates losing almost as much as you do and is not handling it very well. After your test, ask your boyfriend what she did yesterday." That was so not true. If she were not a graceful loser she would be trying to strangle Jim Kirk right now.

"That's not true. I'm not a sore loser. I just don't lose." That response was worth an eye roll.

"Whatever. Just be nice to her and don't rub it in her face that you're now screwing that guy she is in love with." For some reason, he didn't respond to that. Instead, he opted for changing the subject.

"Why are you really here? I seriously doubt it was just to tell me to be nice to your roommate."

"Don't you remember our little special project for today?" Gaila asked in an overly sugary voice.

"Great, I forgot to call you. A certain over possessive boyfriend found out about a certain plan for his baby today, due to his special skills. He was not happy. I really do not want to find out what happens if I piss him off. So the plan is off."

"Vulcans are pacifists. I'm sure he would just cut off sex. I heard that they could go seven years without having it. Although, because your boyfriend is half human, I'm sure he could only last three and a half years.” She actually sounded serious.

"That is worse than physical assault." Jim said with a shiver. Of course, he would see it that way.

"Don't worry about it. Your boyfriend called me yesterday and stopped the plan. In exchange for not reporting my role in assisting you, I get to be his special assistant for the rest of this semester. I'm also supposed to do some ethical hacking into the Starfleet Computer System. I'm not sure what he's planning for you. I bet it will be kinky. Are those bruises on your neck along with the bite marks?" Nyota just does not want to know the answer to that question.

"No," He said in a way that was obviously a yes.

"Why do they look like handprints? He doesn't have a choking fetish does he? It's always the quiet ones that are into the kinky stuff. One time there was this nerdy guy…" Thankfully, Jim cut her off before Gaila could relate the story about the guy with the Twinkie fetish. Nyota hasn't been able to look at that particular pastry in the same way again after walking in on that "incident". That was one of the contributing factors to the no boyfriends in the dorm room policy.

She was also thankful Jim did not confirm Gaila's accusation. She just accepted the fact that Jim and Spock were in love with each other. (Instead of like before, when she knew it but was hoping she was wrong.) She wasn't ready to deal with the fact that they were now sleeping together. Fortunately for her, Jim went into an angry rant about idiot boyfriends.

"That sneaky bastard, he lied to me. He told me that I'd let something slip during the post orgasm haze." So much for staying in complete denial about their sex life.

She can deal with this. She is a mature adult. It's only three more months and then she will be assigned to a completely different ship than those two, and will never see them again. Who is she kidding, knowing her luck, Spock will probably end up being her commanding officer. Jim will probably be there too because by that point in her worst-case scenario, the two will qualify for spouse assignments.

"I did not lie to you." Spock said as he walked up behind Jim and gave him a discreet Vulcan kiss that still made Nyota slightly nauseous. If she didn't know the two so well, she would just think it was a casual brushing of the hands. Their body language told her that they were obviously in love with each other. They were clearly happy together.

"I did no such thing, T'hy'la."

It was a little hard to hear Spock call Jim that. Although, probably not as hard as it would have been yesterday. The word wasn't very commonly used in the Vulcan language and usually taught in language class to mean friend. However, due to her ‘school girl with a crush’ behavior over the last year she started reading copious amounts of Vulcan poetry. From context alone, she knew it was a term of endearment that went beyond normal friendship. Jim was never Spock's friend.

"Cadet Gaila you are late." Spock said in a tone that screamed 'step away from my boyfriend before I kill you.' "You were supposed to be in the lab 15 minutes ago."

"Sorry Professor Spock. I told you I am not trying to sleep with your boyfriend. I will talk to you later Jim. Remember what I said." She said leaving as quickly as possible.

"You're so cute when you're jealous. I'm surprised I didn't pick up on this behavior before. You always got upset when I was talking to someone else. I just thought you were not good at sharing your friends, which is why I never introduced you to Bones."

"Vulcan's do not do cute or jealous."

"I don't know why you always start with the 'Vulcans do not do this shit'. That's what you always say when you either don't want to do something or I call you on doing something that you don't want to admit to doing." James said as he placed a gentle kiss on Spock's lips. Okay, the crush was abating slightly. She only felt like crying a little and did not have the urge to throw up at the sight.

"We are in public." Spock said as he pulled away. She was thankful for that.

"Oh come on. Before we were actually together, you let me touch you all the time. Apparently, we were making out the entire time but you never told me." Seriously, how can somebody who spoke perfect Vulcan because he lived on the planet for six months when his mom took part in a cultural exchange not know about the touching thing?

"Also, if Vulcan hands are so sensitive, was I doing something very inappropriate when you allowed me to lick chocolate off your finger? I'm going to take that green blush as a yes." He said running a finger over one of Spock's now green tinted cheeks.

"Spock nobody's around. Come on, just one little good luck kiss. Who knows maybe I will actually beat your test." Jim said with a smile.

"Luck is an illogical concept. Luck has nothing whatsoever to do with you possibly beating this test, if such a thing were possible." She really couldn't tell from her vantage point but she was almost sure Spock was smiling. Thirty-six minutes later, she would understand why.

"I still believe that designing a simulation that is unwinnable is cheating and completely illogical. No situation is completely unwinnable.

"Of course, you would say that. You have always had the uncanny ability to pull off the supposedly imposs…" Spock was stopped midsentence by Jim's mouth crashing on his.

She felt like a voyeur for watching this. If it did not hurt Nyota a little to see the two together like this, she would probably think it was cute.

This is when she decided to let go gracefully or rather as gracefully as she could considering her major screw up yesterday. She was not going to be some bitter woman who throws a tantrum because the guy she fell in love with chose someone else. It's amazing what 24 hours of self-reflection will do for a person or rather what 24 hours and copious amounts of chocolate and alcohol will do for a person's perspective.

"See, I'm good. I just accomplished something else that was supposedly completely impossible. I got you to kiss me in public. Granted, no one is around, but it still counts. Next, we will work on sex in a public place. Maybe your desk, as you punish me for being a naughty cadet and trying to hack into your test. I'll see you later professor." Jim said as he gave Spock one last kiss before walking down the hall to the simulation lab. She was hoping to follow a few moments later without being noticed but unfortunately she couldn't.

"Cadet Uhura, I know you are there. Why have you been standing in the doorway for at least the last 6.8 minutes? Spock said as he approached the doorway.

"It is not like I was stalking or anything like that. I just decided it wasn't best to interrupt Gaila when she was in protective friend mode."

"Considering you accused her of sleeping with my boyfriend yesterday I'm surprise you refer to her as a friend." He said it in a way that was more cold than usual.

"After yesterday's incident, I'm surprise she still sees me as a friend. I already apologized with the customary tools of female forgiveness, pizza and cookies."

"Is there some sort of earth practice of giving cookies after a major transgression?"

"I don't know, but it's always worked for me. It's something I got from an old earth TV show. I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. Humans have a tendency to allow their emotions to get the best of them. I was having a human moment." That was the understatement of the year.

"It is illogical to apologize for something that you cannot change. However, I accept your apology anyway."

"Thank you, I already knew that you love him for a while. I also knew that he was completely in love with you. I just didn't want to accept it. You have been the only one he sees. I'm not going to cause any more trouble. Yesterday's episode was more about my daddy issues than anything else. It wasn't right for me to take that out on Jim."

"I do not understand what you mean by the phrase 'daddy issues'."

"My father cheated on my mother a lot during the course of their marriage. She knew what was going on. However, she turned a blind eye to it until she walked in on my father having sex with the other woman." She said with anger.

"You believe James was doing the same thing to me?"

"At first, until I realized that I was only seeing what I wanted to see. I was trying to tell myself that I was only telling you for the sake of friendship what was happening."

"Your argument would have been more feasible if you did not try to kiss me yesterday." Why did he have to bring up such a valid point?

"Again, I was having a very human moment. I was not over the fact that you just did not see me as a possible girlfriend. I won't do it again. You are completely in love with him and there's no room for anyone else." His eyes told her that she was right even if his words did not.

"After yesterday's temporary lapse a good judgment, I would be happy if you would still want to be my friend eventually." She told him quietly.

"I find that agreeable."

"Just give me some time to adjust to seeing you two completely in love with each other." She mumbled under her breath hoping he did not hear her.

"If you do not want to come to study group Monday, I will not count the absence against you." Stupid Vulcan hearing. Of course, he heard her.

"Maybe that would be good." She said as she walked into the simulation lab completely unaware of what would happen next. Due to certain events 29 minutes later, they would most likely be no study group Monday to miss.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She should have noticed immediately that today's test was not the same Kobayashi Maru she sat through twice before. However, she was too distracted by the fact the good doctor was still fussing over Jim's Spock inflicted injuries from the night before. At least, Jim was kind enough not to tell his friend exactly why he looked like a Vulcan chew toy despite his earlier slip up.

She was already irritated because, before the simulation even began Jim sat in the captain's chair doing very dirty things to an apple as he propositioned his boyfriend, who saw the entire thing from the other room, with the most profane use of the Vulcan language she has ever heard.

"Do you have to be so vulgar?" She mumbled under her breath.

"You understood what I said?" He said slightly ashamed. She assumed he did not intend for her to understand what he was saying. This shocked her. She presumed he had no shame.

"I speak perfect Vulcan." She repeated to him flawlessly in the Vulcan language.

"You speak perfect standard Vulcan. What I just said was anything but standard."

"What you said would only be appropriate in a Vulcan house of ill repute. You will be amazed what one could pick up from reading literature. Did you know there's such a thing as Vulcan Harlequin romance novels?"

"I always knew the sex every seven years thing was a lie. Every society has porn."

The conversation was abruptly ended when she heard Spock over the intercom system screaming in a Vulcan way at both of them in Vulcan. What he said loosely translated to, "James if you do not stop this current line of conversation, I will spank you and let her watch."

Just before Spock cut off the microphone in the other room she heard Gaila say, "I told you, it's always the quiet ones." This was said in standard once again.

After that very uncomfortable conversation, she wasn't going to pick up on the fact that the scenario was slightly different than before. Considering Jim handled the simulation completely differently the second time than he did during his first attempt at passing the test, she didn't find it that unusual that he was doing something completely different again. No one else in that room besides her and Jim has done this test before.

According to a conversation she had with Gaila later on, at first nobody in the other room realized the test was different. That may have been because this was the third time that the new version of the simulation was administered.

The others finally realized it was different when Jim was actually winning. Not only did Jim save the entire crew of the Kobayashi Maru, but also he didn't die himself this time. She knew Jim wasn't expecting this despite his earlier attempt to reprogram the test. The apple that he was munching on fell down to the floor the moment he realized the crew of the other ship was safe and he wasn't being blown Up.

Everyone in the simulation room had an absolutely shocked expression on their face except for her. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew Spock changed the parameters of the exam. Judging by the shocked expression on Jim's face, he obviously was not the one who asked his boyfriend to do such a thing. It looks like she wasn't the only fool for love.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three hours later at a restaurant outside of campus after extensive questioning from Starfleet campus security Gaila confirmed that Spock was the one who altered the test. Apparently, somebody was very unhappy with the fact that Jim beat the supposedly unbeatable test.

"Everybody else in the room was running around freaking out when they realize Jim just passed the test. Spock just stood there with an almost smile on his face, until Professor Johnson literally started cussing him out."

Nyota wasn't expecting that. She was shocked that Professor Johnson actually showed up. Technically the two were supposed to be managing the test together, but Spock did all the real work.

"What did he say?"

"I hope losing your Starfleet career was worth fucking that whore up the ass you self-righteous Vulcan asshole." Nyota was not shock that he said that, but shocked that he said it in front of other people.

"He said that in front of a room filled with witnesses?" She asked not believing her friend until she saw her nod her head in reassurance. "How can that idiot still be in Starfleet?"

"Honestly, he's either sleeping with one of the Admirals or related to one. If that's the real reason, Spock will be in some serious trouble for what he did in response to what the idiot said."

"What did he do?" She asked with a shaky sigh.

"Spock punched him." Nyota wasn't expecting that.

"What? Spock does not knock people out. He wouldn't hurt a fly or any other sentient creature. If he were going to do something like that, he would have done that yesterday when I was talking badly about Jim. He just walked away."

"Yes, but Spock actually likes you. Why do you think you were stuck in the simulation room for an hour after they pulled Jim out of the room?"

"Spock actually knocked him out?"

"I have pictures. As for yesterday, Spock probably would have hurt you if he didn't consider you to be a friend. He understood your motives."

"That's good, because I'm not even sure why I did it anymore." She mumbled under her breath. "Why didn't anyone pull Spock back?

"Everybody in that room knows Professor Johnson is a dick. Even in the chaos of the aftermath of James beating the test, people were actually cheering except for the idiot who called campus security and a medic. Professor Johnson was out cold for like 15 minutes. It looks like campus security didn't hold Spock very long." Gaila said as she pointed to Spock and Jim walking into the restaurant.

They were not holding hands or kissing but they were definitely more than friends. That may have something to do it the fact that they were arguing like an old married couple.

"What the fuck were you thinking? If you punch out every guy who says something nasty about me, you will be punching out a lot of people. He's a prick, but he is a prick with power. Now I can't even celebrate beating the test because I am worried about you." His statement made her think of the file on her PADD.

"You slept with him." She could hear the jealousy from here.

"I didn't have much of a choice. Also, I was thinking about you the entire time. The guy's uncle is a member of the Admiralty. You know there's going to be a hearing Monday." Jim said as he took Spock's hand in his. She wondered if Spock knew what Jim did to protect him. Professor Johnson threatened to kick Spock out of Starfleet under some false pretense if Jim did not sleep with him late last year.

"I'm not worried the truth is on my side."

"Nepotism always wins. How you think I got into Starfleet with my arrest record?"

"Then it is a good thing I am the son of an ambassador. Everything will be fine. I am not worried and neither should you. You are the one who believes no situation is unwinnable. Let us get you one of those horrible hamburgers that you prefer and then go grab your things." Spock said as he laced his fingers with Jim's.

Just as she watched the slightly nauseating scene that didn't hurt her as much as it did a few days ago she saw a new message popped up into her inbox. It was from Professor Johnson. He wanted to meet her tomorrow to talk about Spock. She deleted it without responding.

"Is it just me or does it seem like they're acting like they've been married for 20 years?" Nyota asked as she took another bite of her oh so healthy salad to make up for yesterday's pizza and chocolate binge.

"You're absolutely right. I wish I had a boyfriend that would punch someone out for me."

"So do I." She said with wistfulness that she couldn't quite let go of.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim's statement about the Monday hearing turned out to be very true. She will receive a message in an hour requiring her presence at the closed door hearing Monday at 8:00 AM regarding, Professor Spock's possible misconduct. She assumed the hearing was related to Spock rewriting the test or punching out Professor Johnson.

Although she was wondering why it was a closed door hearing. Usually hearings involving academic misconduct on the part of a professor or student would take place in front of the entire academy with the full board of Admirals if presiding. Closed hearings usually only occur in cases of sexual misconduct. Of course, she thought nothing of it that night. Maybe she should have.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the trial of the 23rd century. This is the final section for Ms. Brightside. 
> 
> Note: I have more time between when Nero and company escaped from prison and the actual attack on Vulcan. When this story and canon conflict, go with my interpretation.
> 
> There is a tiny bit of dialogue from the actual film used in this chapter. Those lines are the property of the original writer and are used without permission.
> 
> For those of you that need a visual to go along with the dialogue please use the following. Professor Johnson is the person in the film that asked Spock how Kirk managed to beat the test. Admiral Lume, is the blonde female Admiral sitting near Admiral Barnett during the trial scene. Her name is what I think I saw on the nameplate after watching the sequence 18 times. I just gave her a very interesting back story. Admiral Johnson can be any male Admiral that was on the board. Use your imagination.

Part four: Illogical Justice

 

If you told Nyota at the beginning of this semester, that she would end up before a tribunal of Admirals to testify against one of her fellow students she would wholeheartedly believe you. Of course, at the time she assumed she would be testifying against Jim Kirk because he did something absolutely idiotic. (Which technically she is, but that's beside the point.) She was not expecting to testify against her friend, who happens to be one of the most respected professors in Starfleet history.

Professor Spock was a stickler for rules and regulations. Spock could repeat most if not all of Starfleet regulations exactly as written without effort. Therefore, it was shocking to see that he was being charged with violating six major Starfleet regulations.

The charges included engaging in a sexual relationship with a student, accepting sexual favors from a student in exchange for enhancing their academic performance, academic dishonesty, enabling a student to cheat on an exam, altering lesson plans without permission, and unprovoked physical assault of a Starfleet officer. She cannot remember the exact regulations violated off the top of her head, because unlike Spock and his over achiever boyfriend, she has more important things to remember like all three dialects of Romulan.

Almost everyone knew the trial itself would be an absolute farce or maybe circus would be a more accurate description. Professor Johnson's uncle, Admiral Johnson, was the ringleader of the most dysfunctional show in the Federation, even if Admiral Barnett was the one supposedly in charge of the tribunal. Everyone with half a brain knew that the charges were exaggerated, if not all out lies.

The biggest travesty of this day was the fact that Professor Johnson was not the one on trial for forcing students to have sex with him by holding his/her grades hostage. If anybody deserves to be on trial for gross misconduct, it was him. She already knew he was using this trial to exercise his personal vendetta against Jim and Spock.

This weekend, she had time to completely read through the files she copied from Professor Johnson's PADD. She doesn't think of it as stealing because he was the idiot who left his PADD out in the open without password protection. If you make it that easy for someone to access your data, it's not stealing.

According to the files, Professor Johnson was already angry at Spock. From what she read, Johnson was originally assigned to work on the Kobayashi Maru by himself, the year after graduating from the academy. Many people were disappointed by his programming and the Admiralty decided to put Spock in charge of the test and essentially make Professor Johnson his assistant.

Adding insult to injury, was the fact that James chose Spock over the evil professor. He was pissed off because the only way he could get Jim to sleep with him was to use his feelings for Spock. Jim was not even sleeping with Spock at that time and he was already willing to do anything to protect him. That made Nyota feel better, at least she lost Spock to someone who loves him as much as she does or rather did.

She is not completely sure about her own feelings yet. You don't get over someone you were completely in love with in three days. However, she wasn't going to be unnecessarily vengeful like Professor Johnson.

For some unknown reason, Professor Johnson knew that Spock hurt her by chosing Jim over her and he tried to use that to his advantage. He emailed her 25 times since the first message Saturday. He actually showed up at her dorm room last night around 11:00 PM. She essentially told him to go fuck himself. That was a mistake. Now her roommate found herself to be an accessory to the Kobayashi Maru incident and was now part of this ridiculous trial. Nyota knew full well this was retaliation for her decision not to cooperate. Professor Johnson was an absolute bastard for using Gaila like that.

However, it didn't really matter because she would be testifying anyway. She was not there to help Jim, but she wasn't going to let Spock get kicked out of Starfleet because he was displaying classic 'schoolboy with a crush' behavior. Even though he broke her heart in a million little pieces, she still cared about him (as a friend) and couldn't hurt him even if she tried.

If Spock would have just let Jim cheat on the test as originally planned, they could have avoided the entire thing by Spock not pressing charges. However, he just had to be the super overprotective boyfriend. Wait never mind, the smug asshole standing ten meters away from her probably would have pressed charges anyway and would have implied that Spock assisted Jim in his attempt to beat the supposedly unwinnable test. Also, she's pretty sure that Spock was just looking for an excuse to attack the bastard. According to the list of conquests, that she got from Professor Johnson, there were at least 126 students on campus that would have no trouble beating the hell out of the dick.

Actually make that 127. Nyota may have never slept with him, but she wants to kick his ass. She did not even like Jim that well and wants to beat the hell out of the slime ball for what he did to Jim. It is obvious to her that Spock doesn't know about the good professor forcing Jim to have sex with him, otherwise she would be a witness at a murder trial right now.

She was there early to accompany her friend. Gaila was so angry when she found out she was facing academic misconduct charges including hacking and assisting Jim in his attempt at cheating on the test that she actually broke her PADD by throwing it at the bathroom mirror last night.

"This is so not fair." Gaila said yesterday as she was starting to pick up the broken glass from the bathroom.

"You were planning on breaking into the test anyway if you did not get caught by Spock." Nyota told her friend from the safety of her bed.

"Yeah, but I didn't do it. I didn't actually do anything wrong. I could understand attempted charges, but not this."

That is when Nyota told her roommate about what Professor Johnson was trying to get her to do. That led to more furniture being broken and Nyota learning some brand new Orion curse words. That also led to more hacking and a late night pizza delivery. Drinking would have been involved but they both knew they needed a clear head to deal with this mess.

It was 7:23 AM Monday morning and the atmosphere on campus was absolute mayhem. Apparently, word was out about what happened and students were standing outside the building where the closed hearing was supposed to take place. She personally got a kick out of the girls wearing "Free Spock "T shirts. Although, the winner for most originality goes to the person holding a sign with Professor Johnson's picture on it that says "deliver us from this evil pervert". She's pretty sure most of the protesters were from Spock's classes. He may not realize it but Spock is very well liked on campus.

Spock is so well like, that there is a very angry woman currently screaming at Admiral Barnett. What made the situation more absurd was there was a young Vulcan woman standing beside her, nonchalantly holding a PADD. She couldn't make out what was being said, but it was obvious that neither party was very happy.

"Who is that?" She asked Gaila, pointing to the woman wearing traditional Vulcan clothing.

"That is Dr. Amanda Grayson of the Vulcan Council. She's one of the major activists in the antislavery Movement. That woman is the reason why I'm free on earth." It wasn't until what she heard next she realizes that the woman yelling at Admiral Barnett was Spock's mother.

"Really you should already know who she is. You were completely in love with her son for how long? She has to be the most overprotective mother in the galaxy. She scares me a little. I've never been grilled so much by anyone in my entire life. Your next, after this trial is over. She wants to meet all of Spock's friends." She heard Jim say from behind her.

Nyota was hoping to avoid Jim until she was completely okay with the fact that he was sleeping with the guy that she is trying not to be in love with anymore. However, there was no relief in sight even after the end of this semester. She found out she was assigned to Enterprise with Spock and Jim, during last night's hack fest. Apparently, Spock was listening to her when she mentioned her preference to serve on that particular ship. If it didn't mean she was going to have to spend a few years with her almost ex-boyfriend, she would be jumping for joy.

"I forgot you're going to be here." She said with a slight sigh and a bit of annoyance as the three started walking up the steps of the building.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't have a choice. I heard you were a witness for the prosecution."

"Not really. Professor Johnson thought that by adding my friend to the list of his targets, I would play along with his little revenge plot."

"At least, someone else realizes what he's doing. He must not know you very well. No one makes you do anything you don't want to do." He said under his breath as Admiral Barnett and Dr. Grayson past by the three. They could actually hear their conversation. Spock's mom was pissed. She recognized Dr. Grayson's facial expression from Friday when she essentially accused Spock's boyfriend of cheating. That must be her fierce overprotective look.

"These charges are completely ridiculous and you know it." Nyota saw Jim grin when he heard his future mother in law say that.

Oh god, did she just refer to Dr. Grayson as Jim's future mother in law in her head? That was either a sign that she was becoming more okay with Jim and Spock being together or she was slowly losing her mind. She was not sure at the moment.

"Your son physically assaulted his fellow professor." Admiral Barnett repeated dryly.

"A professor who is a complete dick, please, people were cheering." Gaila mumbled low enough that hopefully no one else heard her.

"A professor, who referred to my son's partner, by a very derogatory synonym for prostitute, in addition to saying other improper things. Such actions are very insulting in Vulcan culture and have been known to trigger violence from the most logical of individuals. If Professor Johnson called your significant other that, you would have knocked him unconscious yourself." Dr. Grayson told the man with anger in her voice.

"You're right about her being overprotective." Nyota said watching the conversation.

"She seems supportive now, but she yelled at Spock for a good 20 minutes in the Vulcan style Sunday morning when she found out what happened. Not pretty." Jim said in a pseudo whisper to her.

"Fortunately, I am not on trial. The fact that your son was engaging in a sexual relationship with a student, who was taking a test created by him that Jim Kirk suddenly became the first one to pass, must be addressed." That was the last thing they heard the Admiral say before they were out of range. She was laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

"Why are you laughing? Me being expelled is not funny. Also, if Spock gets kicked out, you won't be able to watch him from afar. I'm okay with you looking, as long as you remember that it's my name he's calling out when I'm bringing him off." She shouldn't be surprised that Jim just said that in a crowded hallway.

"I am blaming your stress level for your total lack of decorum. I know you went to college. Seriously, do you always have to be this crass?" She asked with hands on her hips.

"Annoying you is my favorite stress relief activity." He told her with a too bright smile

"I personally prefer sex." Gaila said looking at both of them.

"That is what actually got me in this mess in the first place. Spock was just brought into this as collateral damage."

"I thought Spock was brought into this because he punched out the asshole and decided to reprogram the test without permission." Gaila asked innocently.

"Please, this is my super straight lace boyfriend we are talking about. He doesn't cross the street without permission. This is a set up." Jim didn't need the state the obvious. But from his tone, she could tell that he was worried.

"Why are you worried? Do you actually believe that it's impossible for you to beat these charges?" Nyota already knew the answer to that question without really asking it.

"Not really. Although, Johnson's uncle is one of the three Admirals reviewing the case. The good thing is if this goes bad that gives us an automatic grounds for appeal." Now she could be a mean person and stayed quiet, but she won't. Spock is her friend even if he rather sleep with Jim and therefore it's best that Jim goes into this with all relevant information.

"Admiral Barnett knew that you and Spock were sleeping together before the two of you were actually sleeping together. He was okay with that. Also, you should probably know Admiral Lume met her husband when he was a student."

"That might not work in your favor. According to the rumor mill, the happy couple are getting a divorce. She caught him sleeping with some pretty student from one of his classes. You're completely fucked for that reason alone." Gaila said looking directly at Jim.

"What?" Jim asked in surprise.

"Come on, you are more in tune with the rumor mill then I am. You should know about that." Gaila chastised Jim.

"I already knew about that rumor. Although, I didn't know that they met when she was his instructor. What do you mean Admiral Barnett knows that Spock and I are together? We've only been officially dating since Friday night." Jim directed the question to her.

"You have been in love with Spock since September. He personally thought it was a good thing because it kept you out of trouble. It's in this file." Nyota said as she passed her PADD to Jim.

"I'm sure that was before you convinced Spock to reprogram the unwinnable test with a blow job." Gaila mumbled under her breath.

"Why does everyone think the only thing I am good at is bending over or sucking cock? Contrary to popular belief, I didn't earn my 4.0 GPA on my back or by exhibiting my uncanny 'oral sensitivity' on the majority of the Starfleet academy faculty. " Jim said defensively as he looked at her. Nyota knew that last part was deliberately a dig at her. In addition to asking Spock to 'coffee' a lot, she may or may not have offered to give him a live demonstration of her 'oral sensitivity'. Spock may not have realized she was talking about oral sex but Jim did. Spock must have told him about the entire thing. Maybe something bad will happen that will allow her to get out of this embarrassing situation with her dignity intact. Maybe the earth will swallow her whole.

"Please don't remind me of my previous idiotic behavior. Gaila was kidding. We all know you are a genius, even if you were completely unaware that holding Spock's hand was Vulcan third base. Why are you so tense? You usually handle these comments better." She asked with genuine concern because maybe she doesn't hate him as much as she's trying to tell herself that she does.

"I'm facing expulsion on completely ridiculous charges, my boyfriend may lose his commission because he was trying to keep me from being expelled, his mother is practically picking out China patterns, and I haven't been able to have sex with Spock since Saturday evening." Nyota personally believes Jim is most upset about the lack of sex.

"I really didn't need to know that. Where is your boyfriend anyway?" It only killed her a teeny tiny bit to ask that question. A little bit less than yesterday. She guesses that is progress.

"Wait, not even a blow job? That's so sad." Nyota was grateful that Jim changed the subject without answering Gaila's unbelievably inappropriate question.

"I'm not sure where Spock is. I left early this morning to have breakfast with Bones and explain what was happening. Other than the fact that I may be facing expulsion, he's happy that I have an actual boyfriend."

"There's your better half now being yelled at by some Vulcan lady." She was the same person Nyota saw trailing Dr. Grayson earlier.

"That's Spock's father's assistant T'Pine. She's an absolute bitch in a very Vulcan way. At least, she had the common sense to try to talk Spock into getting a lawyer from the Vulcan embassy. Unfortunately, my boyfriend is too stubborn for that. If she could get a call through to Spock's father right now, she would probably be forcing the issue." That comment seems strange to her.

"Is he unavailable?" She asked in clarification.

"No, for some odd reason the calls are just not making it through. Spock's not that worried because he says it happens occasionally." Spock may not have found it suspicious but she did. She was very familiar with the Vulcan communications system and it usually went offline during some sort of extreme natural phenomenon. She didn't have time to question this because they were asked to take their seats for the greatest farce in Starfleet history.

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Spock took his place in front of the tribunal with James by his side. Gaila was standing on Jim's other side as she waved to several of her admirers who somehow managed to get into the closed hearing. There was no lawyer up front because nobody managed to talk Spock into accepting additional council.

She was sitting in the second row between Spock's mom and Jim's doctor friend. Dr. Grayson was visibly upset to anybody who could pick up on Vulcan mood swings. If she did not witness Dr. Grayson's earlier outburst or knew that Spock's human DNA comes from his mom, she would be convinced that Amanda Grayson was completely Vulcan. Her expression mirrored that of her son perfectly.

Supposedly, Admiral Barnett was presiding over this farce of justice, but Admiral Johnson acted like he was the one in charge with his condescending expression and nasty tone. He went so far as to actually read out the charges before Admiral Barnett could do so as was procedure. Spock's expression did not change at all. Gaila looked exactly the way she did when Nyota lectured her about anything. Jim looked bored and irritated.

"With all due respect, why did you take ten minutes to read out charges that could be simply summarized as me screwing a professor supposedly just so I could pass the Kobayashi Maru and my boyfriend giving into his traditional Vulcan impulses? I'm sure we all have better things to do than go through this charade."

"I concur with Mr. Kirk." Spock said sharply as he looked at the three Admirals in charge.

"I think it's hot when you call me Mr. I'm going to have to reward you for that as soon as they are done sending us up the river on these ridiculous charges." At this point, she is pretty sure she saw Spock blush, his mom sighed, and heard Dr. McCoy mumble something about stupid farm boys from Iowa with no common sense. The Admiralty was equally perplexed. She was personally trying to stifle laughter.

"So you do not deny that you and Mr. Spock are engaging in a sexual relationship that is against Starfleet Academy policy?" The only female Admiral on the tribunal asked.

"What's the point? Seriously, I think you all know where these bite marks came from. I only object to the latter part of that statement." Jim said with a smirk that caused Professor Johnson to break a stylus and Spock's mother to bury her head in her hands as she whispered "I don't want to know about my son's sex life."

"Good luck with that. Your son is dating Jim Kirk. He is a bit of an exhibitionist." Dr. McCoy mumbled low enough that no one else in the room could hear him.

"Admiral Lume, I find it quite illogical that you bring up this point considering the fact that your husband of 19 years was your student. Such accusations are highly hypocritical." Okay, somebody forgot to tell Spock about the divorce. Admiral Lume looked ready to kill.

"I'm not the one on trial. Violating the school's conduct policy in this matter is a serious offence Commander." Admiral Lume said with a voice filled with bitterness and anger.

"I'm so sorry to hear that your husband was an ass. A lovely woman of your intellect deserves better than that." James words manage to get Admira Lume to look just a little less likely to kill Spock.

"Flattery will get you nowhere Cadet Kirk. You're brilliant smile and blue eyes may have worked on Commander Spock, but they will not work on this council." Admiral Johnson said as he looked directly at Jim with burning anger in his eyes.

"I'm not here to argue that the policy governing professors and student relationships at the academy is completely superfluous. It has a purpose in protecting some of the younger students at this institution from the more unscrupulous faculty members that may wish to take advantage of these individuals." Half the people in the room started looking directly at Professor Johnson at Jim's comment.

"You are well aware I am not some innocent 16 year old student being seduced by a professor at least twice his age. Actually, Professor Spock is only one year older than I am. Let's be honest, I was the one who seduced him. You will agree that I am well over the Federation's age of consent and have the right to decide who I sleep with or love."

She's pretty sure she heard Spock say, "Your assumption is highly illogical. I seduced you." However, she cannot be entirely sure since nobody else reacted to his words. She was also still in shock from Jim saying the L word.

"You make a valid point. Which is why, there is an exception to the rule that allows students over the age of consent to engage in relationships with members of the faculty as long as there's not a conflict of interest involved and they are not the student's current instructor." Admiral Lume brought this point out to the rest of the group.

"Spock is not my instructor for any class. These charges are absolute bull… Did you just kick me?" Jim said turning around to look directly at Spock.

"Due to Cadet Kirk's extensive knowledge of various languages, he tested out of his language requirement and therefore I never had the pleasure of instructing him. He is the treasurer of the xenlinguistics club. He is so well versed, that he actually volunteered his time to assist me this semester. Therefore, all charges related to the supposedly inappropriate nature of our relationship should be dropped because the policy does not apply in the situation."

"However, because Cadet Kirk was taking a required test designed by you, your relationship should be governed by the same rules applied to instructors and students that are actually in their class." As Admiral Johnson said that, they all heard Gaila laugh until she noticed the dirty looks she was receiving.

"Oh wait, that was not a joke? Come on, nobody enforces the 'student/professor don't fu—have sex' policy. This is absolutely ridiculous. I have slept with seven members of the faculty, five visiting professors, more captains than I can remember, and three members of the Admiralty as you personally know Admiral Johnson. Neither my partners nor I were punished for our actions, even though at least four of those professors were my actual instructors at the time of intercourse." At that moment, everybody in the makeshift court room was glaring in open mouthed shock at Gaila except for Spock and T'Pine. She personally just wanted to know who the other two members of the Admiralty were. Nyota is pretty sure Admiral Johnson was one of them.

"I believe what cadet Gaila is trying to say is that this policy is not very evenly enforced." Spock said trying to keep everybody from realizing Gaila just implied she slept with one of the admiral's presiding over this farce.

"More like it's only enforced when it can be used to somebody's advantage. I seriously doubt the Kobayashi Maru loophole has ever been employed before Admiral Johnson. Admiral Barnett, you were already well aware of my relationship with Spock before Professor Johnson brought up these charges." James said as he pulled the PADD she slipped to him earlier out of his pocket and approached the tribunal. "I'd like to present exhibit a."

"This is a document from December of last year stating that you yourself Admiral Barnett knew all about our supposedly inappropriate relationship but allowed it to continue because you felt it was having a ‘positive effect’ on me." Jim said as he walked back to where Spock was now standing.

"Obviously that opinion was formed before you managed to talk one of our most distinguished graduates ever into assisting you to cheat on the Kobayashi Maru. I seriously doubt that talking was what you were using your mouth for." That comment obviously Pissed Jim off. He looked ready to strangle Admiral Johnson. Spock pulled him back before he said anything really stupid.

"Thank god, I finally have someone to help me keep Jim from doing stupid stuff." She heard Dr. McCoy mumble underneath his breath.

"I do not understand your logic. You state that I assisted Cadet Kirk in cheating because I modified the test so that all students will encounter a situation with only a .0019% chance of a positive outcome instead of no probability of a positive outcome at all. I felt this more accurately simulated real combat conditions, which is one of the two major purposes of the test. The definition of the word cheat, means to give one person or group of individuals an unfair advantage over all others taking the test. The test was not modified solely for Jim Kirk's benefit, but everyone's benefit." Apparently, Spock's argument was very hard to ignore and Admiral Johnson decided to divert everyone's attention by backing up to the document proving that the Admiralty already knew Jim and Spock were together.

"How did you obtain this document? How do we even know it's authentic?" Admiral Johnson said holding up the PADD. He looked tempted to throw it at Jim.

"I will attest to the document's authenticity myself. I feel we should get back to Spock's earlier point." Admiral Barnett said, trying to get everybody back on task. This probably would have worked if Gaila stayed quiet unfortunately she didn't.

"I'm the one who got the document. Starfleet's firewalls suck. I wouldn't be surprised if all our enemies are spying on us via the network. It took me 15 minutes to get this file and I was not even trying." Gaila said smugly as the three Admirals looked on with open mouth astonishment.

"You hacked into the system?" Admiral Barnett asked.

"Obviously, that's what you charge me with. Humans are so stupid sometimes. Although in my defense, I did not breach the system when Professor Johnson said I hacked into the system. Let's be honest, I am only here because my roommate won't be a part of his revenge plot and I turned him down when he asked me to give him a hand job in a restroom four days ago at some club." Gaila told the crowd as she pointed directly to Johnson.

"I did no such thing." Professor Johnson called from the back indignantly. Nyota fought back hard not to snicker at his absolutely ridiculous statement.

"Sure, you didn't." James said under his breath. She was personally surprise James didn't bring up the fact that the good professor did the same thing with him and many other students. Maybe that was because Spock cut him off before he could say much else. 

"I believe we all have the right to confront our accuser directly. That would be more productive than Admiral Johnson playing advocate for his nephew." Spock said in a very cold voice as the other two members of the Admiralty looked at their colleagues with thinly veiled irritation.

"Professor Spock you are very familiar with your co-programmer Lieut. Cmdr. Andrew Johnson. He is the one who brought these charges against you, Cadet Kirk, and Cadet Gaila, including unprovoked physical assault." Admiral Johnson said Before Admiral Barnett could say anything. Nyota is pretty sure the others know how fake this trial is by this point.

"I'm here to testify that Professor Spock deliberately engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with Cadet Kirk and because of that relationship deliberately reprogrammed the Kobayashi Maru so that James Kirk could become the first person to beat the exam. After I pointed out his actions, he viciously assaulted me without provocation. According to the medics, I was unconscious for 15 minutes." The ass tried to look humble as he sucked up to the two members of the Admiralty not in his pocket. Admiral Barnett looked ready to deck him.

"That's a fucking lie. Spock punched you out because you called his boyfriend a whore." Gaila yelled at him. Nyota was personally expecting Jim to yell out inappropriately.

"Please watch your language in these proceedings or you will be escorted out." Admiral Johnson said in anger.

"She has just as much a right to speak as anyone else. Cadet Gaila, do you have something to add?" Admiral Lume asked her.

"I was there when Professor Johnson confronted Professor Spock. There wasn't anything nice or civil about what he said. His exact words were, 'I hope losing your Starfleet career was worth fucking that whore up the ass you self-righteous Vulcan asshole.'" All eyes were on the professor as soon as Gaila was done speaking.

"I did not say that. She is lying. Are you really going to believe a student who has ended up before this committee multiple times due to deviant sexual behavior over a distinguish professor like myself? I believe three weeks ago, Cadet Gaila was charged with engaging in sexual intercourse with two students in one of the water fountains on campus."

"Does that man really have the ego to call an Orion deviant due to biological matters she has no control over?" Dr. Grayson asked her and in a near whisper.

"Yes." Both she and Dr. McCoy responded simultaneously.

"It seems hypocritical coming from him. I don't know how many students I have treated for STIs that came from him. Is anybody else worried that the only sane person out of the three was the one who already punch that ass hole out?" Dr. McCoy raised a very valid point.

"Yes, do you think if I pull the fire alarm, it will end this insanity before it gets really bad?" Nyota asked in a pseudo whisper.

"Probably not, we'll just have to deal with it later." Dr. Grayson replied. "

"Was it my fault that my pheromone suppressant was deactivated when I was accidentally thrown into the fountain? It was not my fault that I was propositioned by two students passing by. This whole thing is about you being really angry because Jim wouldn't…" At that moment she could see Jim stomping on Gaila's toe to keep this trial from getting more dysfunctional, if such a thing where possible.

"Sorry, I have the right to defend myself when he of all people accuses me of being a slut. If you don't want to believe me because of who I sleep with, there are at least five other people in this room that saw exactly what happened. By the way professor holier than thou, most of them were cheering." Everyone could see the smile on Gaila's face as she uttered that statement.

"Is that true Commander Spock?" Admiral Lume asked.

"The cadet's statement is accurate. Though, not everybody was cheering."

"I have personally seen the security footage and I agree with Cadet Gaila's account of the incident. Do you wish to recant your earlier statement Lieut. Cmdr. Johnson?" Admiral Barnett asked looking directly at the slimy little man.

"I will admit that I used certain words that were inappropriate for officer of my station. However, that does not make the charges any less true." She always assumed Jim Kirk had the biggest ego at Starfleet Academy until she was exposed to this particular narcissist for an extended period of time. She was desperately trying not to laugh. Unfortunately, Jim did not have her control. At least, that is something she was better at then him.

"Oh wait I am not supposed to laugh when you say something that absurd. My bad… I just thought he was trying to break the tension. I guess this is a no laughing zone." Spock just gave James the glare of death for a moment.

"What?" Spock just continued to look angrily at his boyfriend for a moment before continuing.

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand? Before we were talking about the charge that Professor Spock altering the test specifically so that Cadet Kirk could beat the test. Because it has been proven that the Admiralty including myself knew about said relationship we will no longer be looking at the fact that the two of you engaged in an illicit relationship because it is obvious that the relationship was sanctioned. Instead, we are here to establish if your relationship with Cadet Kirk influence your actions."

"As I was saying before we were interrupted by a thinly veiled attempt to divert our attention from the real purpose of this hearing, Professor Johnson accuses me of altering the test specifically so that Cadet Kirk may pass the Kobayashi Maru. However, Cadet Kirk took the same test that two other cadets took earlier that morning and was completely unaware that any changes took place. I changed the parameters of the exam so that all students may benefit from a more accurate test that simulates real combat situations. After recent research, I became worried that those in command may become less effective if they believe all situations are impossible. Sometimes hope is the only thing one can have. Because the old exam gave the students no chance of passing, the majority did not even try."

"Do not expect us to believe that ridiculous argument. The only reason why you chose Saturday as the debut for the new test was so your lover could pass. If this were a legitimate change to the test, you would have notified me about it instead of placing a secret phone call to our shared lab assistant to employed the new program." Nyota personally believed that was part of the reason until Gaila told her how long it would actually take to rewrite the program. Spock had to be planning to change the test for weeks.

"I myself find the timing suspicious, even if your argument is valid. We all remember the unfortunate incident two years ago when Cadet Laura Alexandra swallowed a bottle of pills because the test reminded her too much of her brother's death three months earlier. What I find most troubling is you never submitted the required paperwork regarding the modifications. That would have been the preferred time for this discussion." Nyota noticed a very perplexed expression on Spock's face for a moment.

"I find it very odd that you say that considering in my PADD I have copies of all the required paperwork that I sent to the Admiralty two weeks ago regarding a possible modification of this nature. I also have a copy of the reply email signed by you Admiral Barnett from 4.6 days ago." Spock said as he approached the tribunal holding out the document. At the same moment she looked back to see Spock's mom and her temporary assistant being pulled out of the trial by some unknown security officer.

"That is not my signature. I never reviewed such a document." Admiral Barnett said looking suspiciously at both Johnsons.

"How do we not know your computer savvy help placed those documents in the system?" Professor Johnson said pointing to Jim and Gaila.

"You sure you weren't the one who hacked into the system and prevented delivery of the documents to the Admiralty for an official approval? As we already stated, Starfleet's network security is horrible and you are a computer expert." Jim said looking directly at his accuser with an angry expression.

"I'm not like you. I don't look for the easy way out."

"Unlike you, I am anything but easy. I also don't get by on nepotism alone."

"Everyone in this room knows you are only here at the academy because your father died saving 800 people. Now he understood the importance of being a hero, unlike his son who believes all situations can be solved by falling down on his knees and opening his mouth." Gaila was literally holding Jim back at that comment. Nyota was personally worried that Spock was going to knock Professor Johnson unconscious again and was preparing to run up there. Instead everything was put on hold for a message on a PADD that was about to change everything.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hanger bay was in absolute chaos as Nyota wandered around trying to find Gaila. They were separated in the confusion that ensued after Admiral Barnett abruptly halted the trial so that everyone in the room and the entire senior class could prepare for deployment. Starfleet just received a distress call from Vulcan and because the primary fleet was engaged elsewhere, Nyota and her fellow classmates were moments away from being thrown in to the deep end. That explains why Dr. Grayson was pulled from the room moments before the announcement was made.

She was worried about Spock as a friend. She's not sure if anybody else besides Jim picked up on Spock's worry. She didn't see Spock or her roommate, but did see a Jim that looked like he was about ten seconds from crying. She was a little worried that something was wrong with Spock and decided to approach the doctor first. He was waiting in the line to board the shuttle for Enterprise anyway. She was so happy that she got her first choice. Jordan and the evil professor were assigned to the Farragut. She completely ignored Jordan when he tried to say, 'hi'. (Flipping him off does not count.)

"Why does your best friend look like they just took his puppy away?" Nyota asked as she approached the anxious man.

"Because that's essentially what they did. They just took away his pet Vulcan and his chance to actually be on his favorite starship early. I guess that's just as bad." The doctor replied in a way that she has gotten used to today.

"What?"

"Because of today's earlier insanity, Jim is grounded along with his other partner in crime until the board comes to their senses. However, Galia has been asked to stay with Dr. Grayson at Spock's request. The only reason why Spock is not grounded as well was Captain Pike supposedly made a fuss when Admiral Johnson tried to prevent the only Vulcan in Starfleet from assisting. Now Jim is moping because he can't be with his boyfriend. Honestly, I did not see that coming. I guess I should just be happy that I no longer have to treat Jim for STIs on a regular basis."

Jim really did look like a two year old that just lost his favorite pet to a violent car accident or possibly drowning. He was breaking her heart and she was supposed to not like him because he stole the guy she was in love with. He looked so sad she wanted to help him get to Spock. Oh great, now she has the crazy idea to actually help Jim. The Jim Kirk puppy dog eyes work on everyone.

"Is it true that there's a regulation that says you as a doctor have final say over transport of patients." She knew about that particular regulation because, a certain ex-boyfriend of hers was premed.

"There's something like that." The doctor replied giving her a very strange look.

"If Jim suddenly became sick, they would have to let him come on Enterprise so you could treat him?" Nyota asked him for clarification.

"I don't think broken heart disease is considered a qualifying condition." The Doctor quipped.

"Couldn't we just give him a soy burger? I've seen his allergic reactions before when somebody accidentally gave him soy milk in his coffee. He looked horrible."

"I remember that incident. It would be safer to infect him with a vaccine of some sort to mimic symptoms. I doubt any of those would actually kill him. I know what you are thinking. I'm not doing it." Dr. McCoy said firmly.

"He is your friend." She pleaded with the doctor. Again, why is she helping Jim? Now she remembers, because Spock needs Jim and she's trying not to be selfish.

"He's a friend who essentially ditched me for his hobgoblin boyfriend almost all semester." Considering how much time Jim and Spock spent together over the last year, Nyota finds that to be a very valid possibility.

"We all do stupid things when we fall in love. I'm sure he's still your friend."

"Why are you trying to help him?" She really doesn't have time to answer the doctor's question right now. It is too complicated.

"I'll let you know in a moment. Follow me." She said pulling Dr. McCoy with her not giving him a chance to say no.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be boarding the shuttle? Since I can't be there because of that stupid dick, make sure my boyfriend doesn't do anything idiotic." Jim said looking directly at her. She could easily pick up on his anxiety and sadness.

"You're really upset about not being able to come because you're worried about Spock?" Nyota asked Jim calmly.

"Yes. You saw the way he looked the moment they said that Starfleet received a distress call from Vulcan. He was worried. Spock does not get worried. He just dealt with possible expulsion from Starfleet and he was not worried. His planet may be under attack for all we know and I am stuck here because some guy has an illogical grudge against me and my boyfriend because I called him Spock's name in bed." The doctor's expression was priceless at Jim's last statement. Too bad they were in the middle of a crisis; otherwise, she would take a picture.

"I really didn't need to know that. Do you think we have time for me to bleach my mind before the shuttle takes off?" Both she and Jim gave the doctor the 'you are crazy' look.

"Stop with the sad puppy dog eyes. It is so unlike you. I will not have to look after your boyfriend because you will be there. That is if your doctor friend is willing to help." She said giving the doctor 'the you will do anything I say' glare of death.

"Do you realize you have the same death glare as my ex-wife?" Dr. McCoy asked looking directly at her as she continued to stare him down as Jim gave his friend the Jim Kirk sad eyes. "Fine, I will help." The man acquiesced as he dragged the two of them to a shuttle filled with medical supplies. He quickly grabbed a hypo from one of the shelves.

"I'm going to give you a vaccine for Melvaran mud fleas now." Before the words were out of the doctor's mouth he shoved the hypo into Jim's neck. Judging by the scream of pain, she is pretty sure the doctor deliberately aimed for one of the visible bite marks. So she may have got a little bit of joy out of seeing Jim yell in pain. She's only human.

"Why?" Jim asked as he started to rub the injection site.

"So you have the symptoms. You're going to start losing your vision in your left eye soon. It was her idea." The doctor said pointing at her.

"This is your revenge for me getting Spock?" Jim accused her as he started blinking his left eye. He must already be losing vision. He looks like he was about to collapse and he was starting to look red. She still thinks giving him a little soy would have been safer.

"Oh please, I am nowhere near as petty as Professor Johnson. I'm trying to help you." She said just as Jim did in fact fall over, but she caught him just in time.

"We're just trying to do you a favor. Be careful. You're going to be getting a really horrible headache any moment along with a flop sweat." The doctor warned as he grabbed Jim's other side.

"You call this a favor?" Jim's words were slurred as the two of them lifted him off the examination table and started walking to one of the Enterprise shuttles.

"This was the only thing we could think of to get you to your boyfriend. Although, we may need to keep Spock away for a little bit until you no longer look ready to fall down." He looked absolutely terrible. Spock would kill them both for this before asking any questions.

"It was your idea to get him sick." That was the last thing the doctor said before they manage to completely bluff their way onto the shuttle. It may have helped that the guy was slightly distracted by her cleavage.

"You're sitting next to him in case he throws up." Dr. McCoy said just as he lowered Jim in to one of the seats.

"He is your patient." Nyota whispered in irritation.

"This was your idea." The doctor argued back.

"It worked. You would have done this any way even if I was not here. Fine." She finally acquiesced as she crawled over Jim to take the window seat.

"Why did you just help me? You hate me. We're not friends. I really think I am going to throw up on you." Jim said that final part with a queasy expression. She was mentally trying to remember if they still stocked the shuttles with airsickness bags. She distinctly remembered three years ago when the doctor now sitting behind her threw up on her good shoes.

"I don't hate you. We may not be friends yet, but I'm friends with your boyfriend and he needs you. I may have been blinded by jealousy for most of the year, but I know you make him happy even if that is an emotion. He needs you, so I'm going to help him. 

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." She said as they got their first look at the impressive Enterprise. It was amazing. Maybe if she focuses on the positive she can get through this. Everything will be okay once she is on that ship doing what she was meant to do. She can forget about the craziness and tears of the last few days. Everything will be fine, she hopes.

End of section four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued in section five: The Road to Delta Vega is Paved with Good Intentions.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to get Nyota’s perspective of the events that occurred in the earlier parts in one chapter before getting into the all brand new material but it just got too long. If you haven't figured it out yet this series is a lot like the film Vantage Point. Each perspective takes you a little bit deeper into the story.


End file.
